UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Press has announced the appointment of Megan E. Murton and Leah Schwebel as the new editors of The Chaucer Review: A Journal of Medieval Studies and Literary Criticism.
“PSU Press is thrilled to welcome Megan Murton and Leah Schwebel as coeditors of the Chaucer Review — and grateful for the outstanding impact that [previous editors] Susanna Fein and David Raybin have made on the journal during their years at the helm," said Julie Lambert, journals manager at Penn State University Press. "Megan and Leah demonstrate a strong commitment to the journal and to championing the Chaucerian scholarship community. We are excited to see the Chaucer Review enter a new phase of editorship and confident that Megan and Leah will continue the legacy of the journal while also pushing new boundaries, inviting fresh voices, and supporting innovative scholarship that will continue to shape our understanding of Chaucer well into the future,”
Founded in 1966, the Chaucer Review publishes studies of language, sources, social and political contexts, aesthetics, and associated meanings of Chaucer’s poetry as well as articles on medieval literature, philosophy, theology, and mythography relevant to the study of the poet and his contemporaries, predecessors, and audiences. It acts as a forum for the presentation and discussion of research and concepts about Chaucer and the literature of the Middle Ages.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be entrusted with the leadership of a journal that means so much to me as a scholar and a teacher," said Murton, associate professor and director of graduate studies in English and Medieval studies at the Catholic University of America. "I see the Chaucer Review not just as an essential resource for students and teachers of Middle English literature but also as a welcoming community that brings new voices into the scholarly conversation. Together with Leah, I look forward to helping that community flourish in the coming years."
Schwebel, professor of English at Texas State University, said, "Stepping into the role of coeditor of the Chaucer Review is a dream come true. The journal has been nothing short of foundational in my development as an academic. I gave my first Chaucer paper on one of David Raybin and Susanna Fein’s panels at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo. That paper developed into my first article, which was published in the Chaucer Review. David and Susanna were two of the first people to take me seriously as a Chaucer scholar and to provide me with the confidence to keep writing. I look forward to working with Megan to provide the next generation of scholars with that same rigorous and supportive foundation."
Murton and Schwebel will replace Susanna Fein and David Raybin, who have been the editors of the journal since 2001.
“The spirit of the Chaucer Review embraces new scholarship relating to Middle English literature. Its range is wide, its interests capacious — as is the art of Chaucer and his contemporaries, their learned and less-learned sources, their scribes and critics, their editors and translators, their politics and prejudices, their receptions across time. Under the editorship of Megan Murton and Leah Schwebel, the distinctive flavor of this journal will carry on, and its community will continue to flourish. We enthusiastically welcome our successors,” said Fein and Raybin in a statement.
As a vital component of the University community, Penn State University Press reflects many of the University’s academic strengths in the liberal arts. Overall, the press publishes about 90 books and 80 journal titles — approximately 175 issues — annually. Titles published under the Penn State University Press imprint include academic publications by researchers around the world in a number of fields and disciplines for a global readership. Those under the Eisenbrauns imprint include academic books about the languages, archaeology, and history of the ancient Near East. The Graphic Mundi imprint includes graphic novels for popular audiences that speak to social, environmental, and contemporary cultural issues.
The press also recognizes its special responsibility to develop publications about Pennsylvania, both scholarly and popular, that enhance interest in the region and spread awareness of the commonwealth’s history, culture and environment.