Editor’s Note

Before divulging into my personal feelings regarding this year’s edition of the Vassar Critical Journal, I would like to first recognize the brilliant 2025 Editorial Board, without whom this publication would not exist, as well as our faculty advisor, Wendy Graham, invaluable in her wisdom and hilarious digressions. Meeting weekly to discuss and evaluate a particularly outstanding round of student submissions in the face of a rising anti-intellectual movement was, to put it simply, cathartic. On a related note, I want to acknowledge our writers, whose invigorating, ambitious essays inspired contemplation and debate—testament to the power of literary criticism. Thank you, Zhikai Sheng, Miranda Chen, Franklin Zhu, Elia Smith, Anna Terry, John Cody Gilbert, Kai Speirs and Jaden Schapiro, for expanding our horizons. 

In 1996, the late, legendary poetry critic Helen Vendler told The Paris Review that she writes “to explain things to myself.” Thirty years later, as colleges and universities across the country face historic federal budget cuts, leading to hiring freezes, scores of layoffs and retrenchments of graduate-level admissions—not to mention the movement to dismantle the Department of Education—her message is more pertinent than ever. If “chaotic” is the best word to describe the current American academic climate, then literary analysis is our way through it. I’ll admit that, throughout my undergraduate career, I’ve questioned the point of the humanities. But it is at moments like this where I remember why I chose to study English: for guidance. I offer the 8th Volume of the VCJ as a kind of guidebook, one which can, and should, be revisited in times of doubt. 

I also offer the 8th Volume of the VCJ as a way to show off what Vassar students are capable of. While this year’s essays may not be related by a determinable theme, they are each, in themselves, determined. When the Editorial Board was first defining our set of evaluative criteria, we debated the value of “readability.” Ultimately, we swapped the word for “precision,” in order to clarify the difference between eloquence and “dumbing-down” for accessibility’s sake. These essays push boundaries. They are challenging. And above all, they are exciting.

Please enjoy this curation. Thank you for reading. 

With love, 

Charlotte Robertson ’25 

Managing Editor