University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Dennis Vannatta, PhD

Rank: Professor
Office: 501-F Stabler Hall
Office Phone: 569.8330
Home Phone: 224.0966
Email: dpvannatta@ualr.edu

Educational Background

PhD, University of Missouri, Columbia

Areas of Focus

Contemporary Literature, World Literature, the Short Story

Professional Activities

Criticism Editor, Crazyhorse 1982-2002; Chair of General Literature Section at SCMLA, 1981

Awards and Honors

• Undergraduate Teaching Award, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1977
• NEH Summer Stipend, 1983
• Arkansas Arts Council Grant, 1990
• Pushcart Prize for Short Fiction, 1990
• Faculty Excellence Award (for research, college level), 1993

Selected Publications

• Books
  • Nathanael West: An Annotated Bibliography of the Scholarship and Works. New York: Garland, 1976.
  • H. E. Bates. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983.
  • The English Short Story, 1945-1980: A Critical History. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.
  • Tennessee Williams: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.
  • This Time, This Place: Stories. Fredonia, NY: White Pine Press, 1991.
  • Prayers for the Dead: Stories. Fredonia, NY: White Pine Press, 1994.
  • Lives of the Artists: Stories. Livingston, AL: Livingston Press, 2003.
  • The Care and Feeding of the True Duffer: A Guide to Golf in the Real World. Stockbridge, GA: Old Sport Publishing, 2006.
• Short Fiction
  • “Little Instruments of Torture.” Crosscurrents 5/6 (1986). 140-49.
  • “The Wrong Time.” Sequoia 30 (Winter-Spring 1986). 6-16.
  • “1980, Coming Down for Bryant.” Red Cedar Review 18 (1986). 34-44.
  • “Rumpelstiltskin.” Colorado-North Review 24 (Winter 1988). 32-40.
  • “The Man Who Came to Love the Heat.” Wind (1988). 103-114.
  • “The David of Michelangelo.” The Quarterly 10 (Summer 1989). 29-33. Reprinted in Pushcart XV.
  • “Chicken in the Barn.” Sonora Review (Fall 1988). 24-35.
  • “Sometimes I Wonder.” Sonoma Mandala (1989/1990). 110-16.
  • “Frankie in Heaven, August 6, 1945.” Permafrost (Spring/Summer 1989). 17-23.
  • “Them Bones.” South Dakota Review (Winter 1989). 40-61.
  • “Mothers.” The Quarterly 15 (Summer 1990). 38-48.
  • “I, in Renoir’s La Balancoire.” Lullwater Review 2 (Spring 1991). 57-63. Reprinted in A Necessary Scavenger. Little Rock: Arkansas Literary Society, 1991.
  • “The Summer Fair.” Wind (1991). 87-99.
  • “Buffalo.” Colorado-North Review (1991). 221-24.
  • “Passover.” South Dakota Review (Summer 1991). 62-74.
  • “Old Soldier.” Ellipsis (1991). 81-90.
  • “Wesley Tucker’s ‘Misterious Indian Burial Grounds.’” Prairie Winds (Spring 1993). 2-9.
  • “The All-Night Cafe.” The Window 2 (June/July 1993). 19-22.
  • “Still.” River Oak Review 4 (Spring 1995). 9-16.
  • “History 232.” Descant 35 (1995). 2-11.
  • “Solo Goya.” Portland Review (1995). 51-54.
  • “Tyrone Street.” Whetstone 13 (1996). 21-32.
  • “At the Shrine of St. Anthony.” Fuel 19 (1997). 27-37.
  • “Age of Miracles.” Mangrove 4 (Spring 1997). 41-56.
  • “A Good Day.” Timber Creek Review 4 (July 1997). 67-75.
  • “Amsterdam.” New Delta Review 15 (Fall/Winter 1997). 60-69.
  • “The Folks Up North.” Satire 4 (Winter 1997-1998). 7-16.
  • “John Denver Is Mourned in the Johnson Household.” Satire 4 (Spring 1998). 37-40.
  • “The Real Mona Lisa.” Third Coast (Spring 1998). 90-98.
  • “Dear Life.” Layers Magazine 1, no. 1 (1998). CD-ROM
  • “A Brief Reading of Pollack’s Lavender Mist.” Writing on the Edge 8 (Spring/Summer1997). 70-78.
  • “Hard Dancing.” Weber Studies 15 (Spring/Summer 1998). 95-105.
  • “The Death of Bill Adams, All the Hours of Our Days.” Plain Brown Wrapper 43 (1998, on floppy disk).
  • Modern Romance (novella). Plain Brown Wrapper 44 (1999, on floppy disk)
  • “This Little Light of Mine.” Foliage no. 3 (Fall 1999). 42-48.
  • “The Flagellation of Christ.” Hidden Manna 1 (Winter 2000). 26-29.
  • “The Blues on South North Street.” Cold Drill (2000). 157-172.
  • “19 April 1883: A Bar at the Folies Bergere.” Green Hills Literary Lantern 11 (2000): 37-42.
  • “A Life in Miniature.” drunken boat no. 2 (Winter/Spring 2001). Online: drunkenboat.com
  • “Madame Cezanne in a Red Armchair.” Pangolin Papers 7 (Spring 2001): 40-46.
  • “Jill.” Arkansas Literary Forum 3 (2001). Online
  • “The Death of Borges (and the Death of Borges).” Margin (Sept. 2001). Online
  • “To Cincinnati.” Descant 41 (2002): 75-81.
  • “Six Seconds.” Whetstone 18 (2002): 49-62.
  • “Jeff, et al.” Meridian (Fall/Winter 2002): 88-96.
  • “I and the Village of Rockaway Park.” Arkansas Literary Forum 4 (2002). Online
  • “The Invoice.” Phantasmagoria 3 (2003): 90-100.
  • “Max Jones’ Garden.” Hogtown Creek Review (Fall 2003): 40-46.
  • “The Cunningham Boys.” Northeast 8.2 (Jan. 2004): 11-22.
  • “Cunningham Walks with God.” Arkansas Literary Forum 5 (2003). Online
  • “What Brung You.” Asphodel 2 (Fall 2003): 68-75.
  • “Comrades.” Green Hills Literary Lantern (2004): 233-241.
  • “Where Are the Pink Ladies?” Timber Creek Review 10 (Spring 2004): 71-76.
  • “Traveling Light.” Eclipse 15 (Fall 2004): 41-54.
  • “A Good Woman.” Zygote in My Coffee no. 7 (Apr. 2004). Online
  • “Staying One-Up on the Business Loop.” Zygote in My Coffee no. 16 (Aug. 2004). Online
  • “Widowed Three Times.” Arkansas Literary Forum 6 (2004). Online
  • “Road Man.” Main Street Rag 9 (Spring 2005): 68-76.
  • “A Rose in the Heart of New York.” Boulevard 20 (Spring 2005): 193-205.
  • “Galahad.” Amoskeag 22 (Spring 2005): 58-63.
  • “Strict Accounting.” Arkansas Literary Forum 7 (2005). Online
  • “Valhalla.” Cake Train (Fall Winter 2005): 51-63.
  • “A Couple of Miracles.” Apostrophe (Winter 2005 Spring 2006): 86-94.
  • “Julius and Jordan.” Plain Brown Wrapper no. 62 (2006). 96-114. [On CD]
  • “On Blue Cove.” Arkansas Literary Forum 8 (2006). Online
  • “Rag and Bone.” Big Muddy 6 (2006): 107-118.
• Poetry
  • “Deer Beneath the Red Maples of Autumn.” Panhandler (Summer 1987). 25.
  • “Rockaway Beach.” Panhandler (Summer 1987). 26.
  • “Old Ladies in Their Dying.” Paintbrush (Autumn 1987). 20-21.
• Presentations
  • “The Oranging of America: Max Apple’s Compassionate Satires.” (paper read at APA, 1978)
  • “Cervantes, Fielding, and Sterne: The Roots of Metafiction.” (paper read at SCMLA, 1979)
• Other
  • “Night Thoughts: the Last of the Vannatta Boys.” River Oak Review 7 (Fall 1996). 23-33.
  • “My Career in Plagiarism.” River Oak Review 12 (Spring 1999). 67-76.
• Articles
  • “Satiric Gestures in Max Apple’s The Oranging of America.” Studies in Contemporary Satire 7 (Spring 1980). 1-8.
  • “William Gass.” Encyclopedia of Short Fiction. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1980.
  • “V. S. Pritchett.” Encycolpedia of Short Fiction.
  • “Alain Robbe-Grillet.” Encyclopedia of Short Fiction.
  • “Theme and Structure in Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato.” Modern Fiction Studies. 28 (Summer 1980). 242-46.
  • “James Dickey: A Checklist of the Secondary Sources.” The Imagination as Glory: The Poetry of James Dickey. Ed. Bruce Weigl and Terry Hummer. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1984. 174-95.
  • “Wittgenstein, Handke’s The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, and the Language of Madness.” The Literary Review 28 (Summer 1985). 606-16.
  • “‘A Rose in the Heart of New York,’ by Edna O’Brien.” Masterplots II: Short Stories. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1986
  • “‘The Death of a Huntsman,’ by H. E. Bates.” Masterplots II: Short Stories.
  • “‘Greasy Lake,’ by T. C. Boyle.” Masterplots II: Short Stories.
  • “‘Greyhound People,’ by Alice Adams.” Masterplots II: Short Stories.
  • “Alain Robbe-Grillet.” Critical Survey of Literary Theory. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1988.
  • “His Master’s Voice, by Stanislaw Lem.” Masterplots II: World Fiction Series. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1988.
  • “H. E. Bates.” Cyclopedia of World Authors. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1989.
  • “Alain Robbe-Grillet.” Cyclopedia of World Authors.
  • “Petersburg, by Andrei Beli.” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1990.
  • “The Non-Existent Knight, by Italo Calvino.” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters.
  • “The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, by Peter Handke.” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters.
  • “A Minor Apocalypse, by Tadeusz Konwicki.” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters.
  • “Guardian of the Word, by Camara Laye.” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters.
  • “Heartbreak Tango, by Manuel Puig.” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters.
  • “The Ghost Sonata, by August Stringberg.” Cyclopedia of Literary Characters.
  • “King Solomon’s Mines.” Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Fiction. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1991.
  • “H. E. Bates.” Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1992, revised.
  • “William Gass.” Critical Survey of Short Fiction.
  • “White Noise.” Masterplots II: American Fiction, Supplement. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1993.
  • “‘The Beast in the Jungle.’” Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Chicago: St. James Press, 1994.
  • “‘The Death of Ivan Illych.’” Reference Guide to Short Fiction.
  • “Franz Kafka.” Reference Guide to Short Fiction.
  • “‘The Library of Babel.’” Reference Guide to Short fiction.
  • “‘Lost in the Funhouse.’” Reference Guide to Short fiction.
  • “El Senor Presidente.” Masterplots: Twentieth Anniversary Revised Second Edition. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1995.
  • “Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon.” Masterplots: Twentieth Anniversary Revised Second Edition.
  • “Woyzeck.” Masterplots: Twentieth Anniversary Revised Second Edition.
  • “No Telephone to Heaven.” Masterplots II: Women’s Literature. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1995.
  • “Puig, Manuel.” Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Supplement. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1995.
  • “Riddley Walker.” Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1995.
  • “Eleven Addresses to the Lord.” Masterpieces II: Poetry Series, Supplement. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 1995.
  • “Alain Robbe-Grillet.” Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. 948-951.
  • “Experimental Long Fiction.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Los Angeles: Salem Press, 2000. 4155-4160.