English professors Nicosia and Nicosia release Critical Insights: The Pearl

Professor Laura Nicosia and adjunct professor James Nicosia completed work on a collection of essays on John Steinbeck’s novella The Pearl (Salem Press/Grey House) last month, in celebration of the late author’s 100th birthday. Steinbeck is one of the most celebrated writers in American history, and The Pearl is one of the most frequently taught books in American schools to this day. The Nicosias’ Critical Insights collection aims to be the definitive work for high school teachers and college students doing research into the novella, its history, and reception, with contemporary readings from numerous perspectives—historical, cultural, social, ecological, economic, ethnic, and literary—that have not been pursued before.

Edited and written by some of academia’s most distinguished literary scholars, Critical Insights: The Pearl provides authoritative, in-depth scholarship that students and researchers will rely on for years. The collection discusses critical views presented by a variety of Steinbeck scholars, including original archival research by the volume’s authors, and two seminal essays by MSU Professor of English and founding director of the Center for Writing Excellence, Melinda Knight. The volume also contains an essay by MSU English graduate student Emily P. Hamburger.