[313] PIONEER JOURNALIST TO BE FOCUS OF WOMEN’S STUDIES LECTURE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 6, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

PIONEER JOURNALIST TO BE FOCUS OF WOMEN’S STUDIES LECTURE
Martha Gellhorn Introduced Millions to the World Through Combat Coverage

(MURFREESBORO) – The next presentation in MTSU’s Women’s Studies Research Series will highlight the work of the woman who made it to the beach at Normandy on D-Day by stowing away on a hospital ship.
Dr. Marcie Hinton, assistant professor of journalism, will deliver an address titled “Postcards From the War: A Rhetorical Analysis of Authorship and Audience in Martha Gellhorn’s War-torn Travel Writing” at 3 p.m., Thursday, March 20, in Room 100 of MTSU’s James Union Building. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Over the course of a 60-year career, Gellhorn reported on some of the pivotal events of the 20th century. In addition to the D-Day landing during World War II, Gellhorn covered the Spanish Civil War, the Communist takeover in China, the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann, the Vietnam War and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The publications for which she wrote included The New Republic, Collier’s Weekly and The Atlantic Monthly.
Hinton says Gellhorn “blended elements of journalism, memoir and travelogue to fashion a vivid style of war reporting.” She adds that Gellhorn “straddled the line between traditional and contemporary travel writing while enlarging the frontier of cultures by introducing the surreal destination of war. Her impressionistic vignettes are digestible commentary for readers she hoped to transform from armchair travelers into informed citizens of the world.”
"The MTSU Women's Studies Research Series has something for everyone interested in women's experience,” says Dr. Jane Marcellus, professor of mass communication. “By bringing together scholars from across campus, we touch on a wide variety of feminist viewpoints in an informal monthly gathering.”
For more information, contact Marcellus at 615-898-5282 or jmarcell@mtsu.edu, or contact the Women’s Studies office at 615-898-5910 or womenstu@mtsu.edu.

--30--