By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky.— Faculty members of the University of Kentucky Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures & Cultures in the College of Arts & Sciences recently have edited, written and published several books in their areas of expertise. Among them are: 

“Football Nation – The Playing Fields of German Culture, History and Society,” edited by  Rebeccah Dawson, UK associate professor, along with Bastian Heinsohn, Oliver Knabe and Alan McDougall. Over the past century, the impact of football on Germany has been manifold, influencing the arts, political debates, and even contributing to the construction of cultural memories and national narratives. “Football Nation” analyses the game’s role in shaping and reflecting German society. 

“Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue: An Annotated Translation of Wu Yue Chunqiu,” by Jianjun He, associate professor, Chinese Studies. The book is the first complete English translation of Wu Yue Chunqiu, a chronicle of two neighboring states during China's Spring and Autumn period. This collection of political history, philosophy and fictional accounts depicts the rise and fall of Wu and Yue and the rivalry between them, the inspiration for centuries of literature. 

“The Global White Snake,” by Liang Luo, UK professor of Chinese Studies. Luo’s book examines the Chinese White Snake legends and their extensive travels within Asia and across the globe. Such travels across linguistic and cultural boundaries have generated distinctive traditions in the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English-speaking worlds. 

“Courtly Pastimes,” edited by Julie Human, associate professor of French and Francophone Studies, and Gloria Allaire, associate professor of Italian Studies. In this book., scholars investigate courtly modes of medieval entertainment ranging from the vigorous to the intellectual: hunting, jousting, horse racing, physical and verbal games, reading, writing and book ownership. Literary and historical examples come from England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. 

“Snapshots of the Soul: Photo-Poetic Encounters in Modern Russian Culture,” by Molly T. Blasing, associate professor of Russian Studies. The book explores photography's place in the Russian poetic imagination. Drawing on theories of the lyric and the elegy, the social history of technology and little-known archival materials, Blasing offers close readings of poems by Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva, Joseph Brodsky and other 20th- and 21st-century Russian poets to understand their fascination with the visual language. 

In addition, Douglas Slaymaker, professor of Japan Studies, as edited or co-translated these titles: 

• “Theorizing Post-disaster Literature in Japan,” by Kimura Saeko. translation by Slaymaker and Rachel DiNitto. This book is the first sustained critical work that engages with the varieties of literature following the triple disasters—the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant. 
• “Wild Lines and Poetic Travels: A Suga Keijiro Reader,” edited by Slaymaker.. This volume of essays and translations analyzes the prodigious and wide-ranging output of Japanese poet Keijiro Suga. 
• “Yōko Tawada: On Writing and Rewriting,” edited by Slaymaker. This collection draws from scholars across different languages to address and assess the scholarly achievements of Tawada Yōko. 
• “Sacred Cesium Ground and Isa’s Deluge,” by Kimura Yūsuke, translated by Slaymaker.  (In these two novellas, Yūsuke explores human and animal life in northern Japan after the natural and nuclear disasters of March 11, 2011. Kimura inscribes the “Triple Disaster” into a rich regional tradition of storytelling, incorporating far-flung voices and experiences to testify to life and the desire to represent it in the aftermath of calamity. 

And four UK faculty members contributed chapters to the book “Communicative Approaches for Ancient Languages.” They are:  

• “Active Latin in the Classroom: Past, Present and Future” by Laura Manning, UK classics lecturer.  
• “Global Latin, Active Latin: Kentucky and Beyond,” by  Milena Minkova, UK professor of classics, and  University of Kentucky, USA and Terence Tunberg, director of the UK Institute for Latin Studies.  
•  “Active Latin in the Tropics: An Experience with Neo-Latin in Brazil,” by Leni Ribeiro Leite, UK associate professor of classics.