Welcome to the fifth issue of IJAS Online, the official journal of the Irish Association for American Studies. Our contributions this issue include articles by Sue Norton and Laurence W. Mazzeno on the personal writings of John Updike and by Ciarán Kavanagh on a reading of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five in the context of psychiatric theory. Kavanagh’s excellent essay was the winner of the 2015 WTM Riches Essay Prize, which is awarded annually by the IAAS to an undergraduate or first-year postgraduate student who has produced deserving work in American Studies. This issue also includes substantial reviews by Johanna Hoorenman of Stephen Matterson’s Melville: Fashioning in Modernity, by Miranda Corcoran of Steve Gronert Ellerhoff’s Post-Jungian Psychology and the Short Stories of Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut, and by Clair A. Sheehan of Kevin MacDonnell and R. Kent Rasmussen’s edited volume Mark Twain and Youth: Studies in His Life and Writings.
Although the contents of this issue focus on American literature, the journal remains committed to publishing articles, interviews, and reviews on American Studies, broadly defined, which means publishing on all aspects of American life and culture, including literature, film, history, politics, social studies, geography, urban studies, architecture, music, art, television, and more. Publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed, and original work by new and established American Studies scholars, the journal also remains committed to innovation, and therefore this issue of IJAS Online is the first to be published on a rolling basis. Rolling publication makes it possible now for the journal to deliver the most current work on American Studies available in Ireland. The journal will, however, also continue to produce occasional Special Issues, and Issue 6, guest edited by Jennifer Daly, will be a Special Issue on the remarkable work of Marilynne Robinson. Please contact the journal at irishjournalofamericanstudies@gmail.com if you would like to propose a Special Issue.
This issue also sees a revision of the Editorial Board. IJAS Online expresses sincere gratitude to Stephen Matterson, Alex Runchman, and Louise Walsh, outgoing Executive Editor, Deputy Executive Editor, and Reviews Editor, respectively, for all their hard work on, commitment to, and vision for the journal. Remaining members of the editorial team, Clare Hayes-Brady, Dara Downey, and Barry Gildea are joined by Clair Sheehan as Editor, Jennifer Daly as Marketing and Reviews Editor, and me, David Coughlan, as Executive Editor. We look forward to continuing the fine work of previous editors and to serving the community of American Studies scholars in Ireland.