Bruce's Response to my Proposal (3/21)

Hi Mike,

Bet you thought you'd never hear from me on your book proposal.  I don't blame you. And I apologize. Unfortunately, a new edition of one of the textbooks has, until recently, consumed all of my attention when I had any to give, and I'm finding in retirement that giving much attention to the profession is harder. But I had never forgotten this, and this morning when I read it I was so glad I did. The mission here--to "re-frame" the way we understand Murray--is dear to my heart, and you eloquently make the case that he has been captive to the reductionist view of expressivism, for which Berlin is largely responsible. For me, the most exciting thing about this is the prospect of reading the rest, especially the way in which you resurrect Murray as "reformer." It's a good thing that a book proposal leaves a reader feeling this way. If I was a book publisher, I'd snatch this up. But I'm not, and as I tried to think about what I might suggest, my first thought was that some publishers might see this a a promising article rather than a book. I certainly could read your opening chapter as an excellent first act in a longer article about how we might reevaluate Murray's contribution to the field. I suspect some publishers might need more convincing that this deserved book-length treatment.  One of the things, for example, that some academic presses look for are the pedagogical implications of the scholarship.  For example, if we resurrect Murray as reformer, what do we do with him today in the writing classroom? Are there ways we can reimagine his pedagogy that make it relevant? (My answer, of course, is absolutely.  My textbooks try to do it).  I suspect that your full proposal, which includes a chapter outline, may have elaborated on some of this. I hope so. Another thought I had is that a book-length treatment might be justified if the resurrection of Murray might be tied to an emerging trend in the field. Is there any pushback, for example, against the notion that first year writing is about academic enculturation (an idea that seems symbolized by the WAW movement)? In some ways, it seems like the attention the discipline is giving to multi-modal writing signals a return of the idea that we prepare "writers"  to work in a range of genres, not just academic ones. Murray would appreciate this, even if he would be a bit befuddled by genres like podcast and infographic.  Finally, is there an upcoming anniversary you could tie this project to? Are we coming up on the 50th anniversary of publication of AWTW or Write to Learn, or his influential writing process article?

One publication venue is would suggest is SIU's Studies in Writing and Rhetoric imprint. I was on the editorial board of this many years ago, and I thought of it immediately when I read your chapter.  But you probably already thought of that.