Dr. Marjorie Allison is a Professor and Chairperson of the English Department at Western Illinois University. She teaches world literatures and classes in the novel.
I will start by saying I have never considered my books to be a collection before. They are just the books I have acquired along the way. I haven’t planned it. There are a few books that I actively sought out to fill out some gaps in my own teaching materials, but otherwise, the books are simply what I wanted or needed at a particular moment in time. I am basing my answers on my books on campus—they are very different than my books at home.
Dr. Marjorie Allison
M&L: What genre makes up most of your collection?
MA: The genre: my books are almost, but not completely, all novels. That is the genre I fell in love with as a child and it continues to be my favorite. I like wandering around in the author’s world for longer than a short story. My first love of a particular time period was the Victorian Novel. They are long.
Maybe more interesting are the categories of novels: women, non-western, US ethnic, Pacific Rim, Booker Award Winners, graphic memoirs/novels, and adaptations of canonical works.
M&L: Which book is your favorite?
MA: My favorite books change. Sometimes it is Jane Austen’s Emma. Sometimes it is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. Sometimes it is anything I am teaching by Patricia Grace (a Maori writer). Or maybe Robert Barclay’s Melal set in the Marshall Islands.
M&L: How long have you been building this collection?
MA: Length of collection? I have books from my undergraduate classes on the shelves, so I guess since I was an undergraduate.
M&L: Which book have you had the longest?
MA: Longest owned book? I have many books from childhood, but I guess for academic books I would say my edition of The Riverside Shakespeare. I don’t teach Shakespeare. But it was the most expensive book I bought as an undergraduate and the instructor was one of my favorites. I guess I thought I should always have that book with me.
M&L: Which book have you gotten most recently?
MA: Most recent book purchase: Melissa Febos’ Girlhood.
M&L: Which is your favorite fiction book?
MA: My favorite books change. Sometimes it is Jane Austen’s Emma. Sometimes it is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. Sometimes it is anything I am teaching by Patricia Grace (a Maori writer). Or maybe Robert Barclay’s Melal set in the Marshall Islands.
M&L: Which is your favorite nonfiction book?
MA: Maybe it will be Girlhood. It is not a genre I read that often.
M&L: Which is your favorite poetry book?
MA: My favorite poets are the Romantics. Or Dylan Thomas.
M&L: What makes your library/bookshelf unique to you?
MA: The books are a reflection of my changing interests over the course of my
career. I am most interested in stories that have been underrepresented in the
classroom at this point. I am also particularly interested in differences in power
structures and how/when/why authors write back against mainstream thought to assert something about a cultural group or idea we might not fully have thought through.
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