Book reviews

Like MLQ articles, all books reviewed for the journal comment on literary history. MLQ does not publish unsolicited single reviews, although we do consider unsolicited review essays. Books are selected by the reviews editor as appropriate to our mission, and we then locate and request a review from a scholar who specializes in that field. Collections of essays are not normally reviewed. We take care not to have books reviewed by scholars who have been involved in the production of the book.

Reviews and review essays should be submitted at the journal's online peer-review site: Submissions.

Single reviews

Reviews of single books usually run from 1,000 to 1,500 words and have no title. When MLQ commisions a review, we generally give a six-month window for completion.

The proper header for an MLQ book review looks like this:

Writing Women's Literary History. By Margaret J. M. Ezell. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. viii + 205 pp.

The reviewer's name appears at the end of the review, aligned with the right margin.

Review essays

We do accept unsolicited review essays. Review essays—of single or of several books—can run up to article length and do have a title. A review essay must lead beyond the book(s) discussed.

Headers for review essays follow much the same format as those for single reviews:

Lawrence Kramer. "The Real in Embers, the Arts Inflamed," a review of Collaborative Form: Studies in the Relations of the Arts. By Thomas Jensen Hines. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1991. x + 205 pp.

Modern Language Quarterly | Department of English, Box 354330 | University of Washington | Seattle, WA 98195-4430
mlq@u.washington.edu