Essays

Clay Reynolds’ essays have appeared in both national and regional magazines as well as in numerous other journals and literary reviews. Each is a formulated essay based on a thesis or is a journalistic profile or article or editorial. 


“Opinion on Opinions.” Graduate Caucus Newsletter. 30 January, 1979: 5.

“Evangelical English: Answering the Big Question.” English in Texas. 12.2 (1980): 40‑41.

“The Facts Concerning My Recent Publication.” Graduate Caucus Newsletter. 3.3 (1980): 1‑4.

“Versus Vocationalism.” Graduate Caucus Newsletter. 3.4 (1980): 5.

“No Roads Lead to Tenure: Some Thoughts on Revolving Door Contracts.” South Central Bulletin. 40.1 (1980): 5.

“Rebuilding the Ruins of Freshman Composition.” Freshman English Resource Notes. 5.1 (1981): 3‑5.

“Opening Night.” Lamar Journal of the Humanities. 9.1 (1983): 41‑48.

“Anatomy of a First Publication.” English in Texas. 17.2 (1986): 41‑44.

“The Long Walk to 114: The Ordeal of Teaching Remedial English,” The Chronicle of Higher Education. 15 October, 1986: 104; rpt. The Education Digest. February, 1987: 58‑60; rpt. Points of View of American Higher Education: Volume III, Students and Standards.” Ed., Stephen H. Barnes. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1990: 92-97.

“Going by the Book: A Profile of Crime Writer, A. W. Gray.” Texas Monthly. 18.1 (1989): 122-125.

“Public and Private Voices: Views of a Redneck Intellectual.” The Roundup Quarterly. 2.3 (1990): 6-14.

“Wanted! Someone to Make Me a Writer.” Poets & Writers Magazine. 18.6 (1990): 18-23.

“We Are What We Do: The Importance of Truthful Violence in Art.” The Redneck Review of Literature of Literature. 19 (1990): 1-8.

“Vietnam’s Artistic Legacy: The Need to Understand.” Journal of American Culture. 14.1 (1991): 9-11.

“Three for the West: The Best Novels About the West.” South Dakota Review. 29.3 [Part One] (1991): 65-77.

“If They Don’t Win, It’s a Shame: Baseball as Myth and Equalizer.” Palo Alto Review. 1.1 (1992): 56-58, 60.

“Big Apples and Armadillos: Chasing the Muse Across the Country.” Concho River Review. 6.1 (1992): 54-66.

“Profs and Pros.” Texas Observer. 16 October, 1992: 20-22.

“Reynolds Responds.” The Roundup. [New Series] 5.4 (1993): 11-12.

“Reviewers Reviewed.” Popular Culture Review. 4.1 (1993): 5-13; rev. & rpt. The Roundup. 5.4 (1993): 7, 9-12.

“Playing Cowboy.” American Way. 1 June, 1993: 46-51, 70-77.

“Where Are the Reviews of University-Press Books?” Chronicle of Higher Education. 20 October, 1993: B3.

“Masques and Masks: The Importance of Point of View in Fiction.” The CEA Critic. 56 (1993): 16-21.

“Dreams of Fields.” Texas Observer. 28 October, 1994: 22.

“Long Time Passing: An Essay and Commentary On a New Novel about Vietnam.” Concho River Review. 8.2 (1994): 45-52.

“Academia: The Creativity Profession.” Chronicles. 19.3 (1995): 47-48.

“Enquête.” South Central Review. 12.1 (1995): 20-25.

“Sexual Harassment and the Academy: A Climate of Fear.” Chronicles. 19.5 (1995): 18-21.

[Anon] “Elegy: For a Player, Dying Young.” Denton Record Chronicle. 2 May, 1995: “Play Ball,” 2.

“Texas Pintos.” The Redneck Review of Literature. 28 (1995): 21-22.

“Elvis and US.” High Plains Literary Review. 10.3 (1995): 21-35.

“The Hardest Job in Baseball.” Gameday Magazine. (1996): 44-45.

“The Profits of Place: Using a Lie to Tell the Truth.” Texas Journal. 19.2 (1997): 48-57.

“Maxwell Perkins is Dead: The Decline of Commercial Publishing.” Chronicles. 22.5 (1998): 18-21.

“Just So With the Sun: A Eulogy for a Texas Writer.” Texas Observer. 23 October, 1998: 26-27.

“Meeting the Author.” Roundup. 5.6 (1998): 7-9.

“Literary Worth and Popular Taste: Taking Proust to the Beach.” Chronicles. 24.4 (2000): 18-20.

“Where Will You Be When the Lights Go Out?” Chronicles. 25.2 (2001): 43-46.

“Punkin Center.” Inc. Magazine. 24.7 (2002): 72.

“The Real Crisis of Higher Education.” Chronicles. 30.2 (2006): 46-48.

“What Happened to the Western?” Roundup Magazine. 13.4 (2006): 6-11.

“To Self Publish or Not.” Storyteller Magazine. 11.2 (2006): 8-9.

“The Death of the Western: Backtrailing for Affirmation.” Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. 32.2 (2008): 23-26.

“Picketing the Zeitgeist: Bad Writing.” American Book Review. 32.4 (2011): 3.

“U No What I Meen: Technology and Illiteracy.” Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. 35.9 (2011): 12-16.

 “Where the South Meets the West.” Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. 36.5 (2012): 44-47.

“A Spectacle of Joy, With a Touch of Discomfort.” Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. 36.8 (2012): 16-21.

 “From Castro to Cancun.” Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. 38.5 (2014): 32-35.

“The Ice Storm.” Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. 38.12 (2014): 44-45.

“Trigger Warnings.” Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. 39.5 (2015): 44-46.