Interview with Meg Toth, Managing Editor of Early American Studies

What inspired you to specialize in American Studies?

When I started my Ph.D. at Tufts University, I was convinced I would specialize in Victorian British literature. I had taken excellent courses in Victorian studies for my M.A. degree at Boston College, and I imagined writing my dissertation on authors like Dickens, the Brontës, Hardy, and Wilkie Collins. Then, in my first semester at Tufts, I took an American literature class with Dr. Liz Ammons, and the entire course of my academic future changed. In this inspiring class, we read authors as diverse as Harriet Beecher Stowe, María Cristina Mena, Edith Wharton, and Sui Sin Far, and I began to see how many of America’s foundational myths are both rooted within and challenged by literature. I went on to pursue coursework with Christina Sharpe, where we read more contemporary writers like Gayl Jones and Toni Morrison. There was no turning back after that. Specializing in American Studies allowed me not only to work on topics that are meaningful to me (gender, sexuality, race, etc.) but also to develop my interdisciplinary interests.

Figure 1. Toth is a passionate scholar of Shirley Jackson. She has published an essay on trauma in the novel Hangsaman and is currently conducting research for a piece on adaptations of “The Lottery.” Photo provided by author.

Yes, we noticed that your academic background is highly interdisciplinary. Can you say more about that?

At both Boston College and Tufts, my coursework engaged not just literature but also history, material culture, visual culture, and film. My dissertation, “Peripheral Visions: Picturing Human Bodies in American Literature and Visual Culture, 1900-1919,” was profoundly shaped by these interdisciplinary interests. I analyzed literature, of course, but also silent film, photography, and visual spectacles like the Buffalo World’s Fair. After I graduated, my scholarship continued to be informed by these intersections. For example, I’ve published essays on the Mexican-American writer María Cristina Mena and photography, Edith Wharton and material culture, and Wharton’s relationship to the cinematic arts. At the same time, my position at Manhattan College, where I taught for over ten years, evolved in ways I hadn’t anticipated. I was hired to teach American literature, but I also created the college’s Film Studies program, which I directed. I developed and taught many new film courses for the school: Adaptation Studies, Feminism & Film, American Horror Cinema, and Film Noir, to name a few. At this point, I’d say I’m as known for my scholarship on film and adaptation studies as I am for my work on American literature.

What academic projects are you currently working on?

After working on Edith Wharton for much of my career, I decided I wanted to devote my attention to writers who have received less scholarly attention. (No offense to Edith, who will always be dear to me! But she already gets a lot of love.) Much of my recent scholarship has focused on mid-century women crime writers, figures who were wildly popular and well-respected in their day but who are now all but forgotten in both the public imagination and the scholarship on crime fiction: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, Vera Caspary, Dorothy B. Hughes, and more. These women penned smart, compelling bestsellers, many of which were adapted for the cinematic screen. Unfortunately, the film adaptations—which often erased the daring feminist commentary in the novels—have eclipsed the novels in the scholarship. Last year, I was awarded a grant by The Recovery Hub of American Women Writers to work on a digital edition of Sanxay Holding’s short fiction. She published over 200 short stories in her lifetime, so this project is extensive. I also joined the editorial board of Shirley Jackson Studies when the journal was created two years ago and am currently working on an essay about adaptations of “The Lottery” for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Shirley Jackson.

You are a creative writer as well, and you just held a residency at Ragdale in Illinois. Can you tell us more about these pursuits?

Yes, I was lucky enough to have an artist’s residency last month at Ragdale to work on my second novel, an academic thriller set at a small school in the Midwest. I’m also currently seeking an agent for my first novel, a literary speculative satire set in near-future Hollywood. In my spare time, I’m a volunteer assistant editor for Conjunctions Magazine, and I’ve published my own short fiction in venues like The Saturday Evening Post and the Idaho Review. My fiction tends to lean toward the speculative and the strange—you can definitely see the influence of Shirley Jackson’s novels and Edith Wharton’s ghost stories.

Figure 2. Toth was awarded a competitive residency by the Ragdale Foundation, which she completed this August. She worked on her second novel, an academic thriller, alongside other artists-in-residence. Photo provided by author.

Why were you interested in working as the Managing Editor at EAS?

First and foremost, I admire the journal’s commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship. I appreciate that you can open up any given issue of EAS and read articles about early American history, literature, politics, art, and religion, to name just a few topics. And many of the articles themselves cross disciplinary lines. I was also drawn to the journal’s commitment to intellectual rigor. The essays in EAS undergo a thorough peer review process that leads to truly excellent scholarship. I’m a big believer in the idea that writing is made better through feedback, discussion, reflection, and revision. Though our review system is blind, in a way, our authors are in conversation with the scholars who evaluate their work, along with the co-editors of the journal. Finally, the Managing Editor role is a perfect fit for me because I’m a bit of a nerd who genuinely enjoys developing efficient organizational systems, thinking about grammar questions, and communicating.

Meg Toth is former Professor of English and Director of Film Studies at Manhattan College. Her research interests include U.S. literature–particularly women writers–mid-twentieth-century crime fiction, and film and adaptation studies. She has published widely on Edith Wharton and twice served on the executive board of the Edith Wharton Society. She currently sits on the editorial board for Shirley Jackson Studies and serves as a standing consultant for Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers. Toth a fiction writer as well and a reader for Conjunctions Magazine.

Twitter: @MegTothWrites

Website: https://www.megtoth.com/