My essay on picky eating was just picked up by Longreads, with a generous introduction by Catherine Cusick. You can read it here:

https://longreads.com/2018/02/13/you-dont-have-to-eat-it/

Over at Serious Eats, I have an essay about what it was like being a picky eater in a country with food shortages, and later getting my comeuppance by having a picky child. I hope you enjoy it, and that you share it with people who might find themselves in this story.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2018/02/in-defense-of-picky-eating.html

The ambitious new Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain has been published. It was edited by Robert Rouse and Siân Echard, and I have two short contributions in it: entries on Ælfric Bata and Solomon and Saturn.

In this essay for Aeon, I tried to describe the difficult, often disturbing aspects of medieval education, the varying attitudes towards sexual and physical abuse over the ages, and the way some students flourished despite what they endured.

https://aeon.co/essays/medieval-wisdom-about-teachers-behaving-badly

My article, “Beautiful Suffering and the Culpable Narrator in Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women” has been published in a special issue of The Chaucer Review. Edited by Betsy McCormick, Leah Schwebel, and Lynn Shutters, the issue offers new perspectives on an often-neglected Chaucerian work.

You can see the article at this link, or write me for an offprint.

I’m honoured to be the featured member on the Canadian Society of Medievalists’ website this month. You can read my Q&A in both English and French here:

Featured Member: Irina Dumitrescu (Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn))

Working with Longreads on my essay “Swan, Late” was a real pleasure, so I was happy they asked me to contribute to this year’s pick of long food essays. Here is the list:

Longreads Best of 2017: Food Writing

I am searching for a full-time doctoral student or a postdoctoral researcher (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) in the field of English Medieval Studies to work with me in Bonn for three years. The position involves a measure of teaching, administrative work, and independent research. You can find the job ad here:

English Medieval Studies Researcher Job Ad

It should also be posted here in due course:

https://www.uni-bonn.de/die-universitaet/stellenangebote/wissenschaftliche-mitarbeiter

I would be happy to answer any questions about the application, start dates, duties, etc., by email at idumitre (at) uni-bonn.de .

 

 

Up at the Marginalia Review of Books is my new essay on the ineffable and complex ways that books shape our lives.

http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/an-unreliable-alchemy/

I am so very happy to announce that, as of October 1, 2017, I will be tenured full Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn.