They're one body now, an undifferentiated mass, and this makes him uneasy. -- Don DeLillo, Mao II (1991)

Activities

          The Don DeLillo Society exists for the benefit of readers and scholars of Don DeLillo throughout the world. Two central activities of the Don DeLillo Society are organizing one session at the annual ALA (American Literature Association) Conference and hosting an informal social gathering in conjunction with each ALA Conference. We plan to hold both at the 2000 conference in San Diego. The venue for ALA Conferences alternates between Baltimore, Maryland and San Diego, California.

          Society meetings take place both in conjunction with the MLA Conventions and during the ALA Conference. However, in order to allow for full participation of the membership, important votes are done by mail-in ballot. The Society keeps in contact by publishing on its website an annual Newsletter, an annual Don DeLillo Bibliography, and an annual Membership Directory. The Society plans to promote matters of interest to DeLillo scholars and readers: we, for example, intend to obtain a copy of the BBC film Don DeLillo: the Word, the Image, and the Gun (1991) for a showing at an upcoming conference.

By-Laws

Article I: Name

Sec. 1. The name of this organization shall be the Don DeLillo Society.

Article II: Purpose

Sec. 1. The purpose of this Society shall be to encourage the scholarly study of and general interest in the work of Don DeLillo, and to facilitate ways in which all people interested in his writings -- scholars, critics, teachers, students, and general readers -- may learn from one another, meet together, contact each other, and help one another.

Sec. 2. An important function of the Society shall be the sponsorship of the Don DeLillo Society Sessions at the annual ALA Conferences.

Article III: Membership

Sec. 1. Any individual, business, educational institution, or corporation interested in the aims of the Don DeLillo Society may join it.

Sec. 2. Membership in this Society shall be through payment of annual dues, according to schedules determined by the Annual General Meeting of the Society.

Sec. 3. A member who has not paid dues for two years shall be classified as not in good standing.

Article IV: Privileges

Sec. 1. All members in good standing shall have the right to stand for office, vote for officers of the Society and for session proposals for the ALA Conferences, serve as a chair or organizer of an ALA session, and receive all publications issued by the Society, in accordance with the scale of dues set by the Annual General Meeting.

Article V: Officers

Sec. 1. The officers of the Society shall be a President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Editor (of the newsletter).

Sec. 2. Officers shall serve without compensation. They shall be entitled to reimbursement for legitimate Society expenses.

Sec. 3. A vacancy in any of these offices occurring during the incumbent's term of office because of illness, death, resignation, or any other reason shall be filled by a volunteer chosen by the remaining officers of the Society until such time as a new election can be held.

Sec. 4. The officers shall perform the following duties:

a. The President shall preside at the Annual General Meeting unless unable to do so. The President shall be responsible for organizing the Don DeLillo Society Sessions at the annual ALA Conferences.

b. The Treasurer shall keep a record of Moneys received and dispersed and prepare an annual report of the Society's Finances.

c. The Secretary shall maintain an on-going history of the organization. He or she shall also work with the Editor in distribution of the Society's annual newsletter.

d. The Editor shall prepare and edit the Society's annual newsletter, working with the Secretary.Working with the secretary, the Editor shall prepare and edit the Society's annual newsletter. The Editor will:

i. Assemble a yearly calendar of appropriate conferences (see Article IX, Sec. 2d and 2e) and their deadlines;

ii. List new publications on DeLillo;

iii. Publish any open CFPs;

iv. Report pertinent news regarding Don DeLillo and/or his writings.

v. The newsletter may also include brief reviews and articles.

e. The Listserv Manager maintain the DeLillo Society Listserv, adding email addresses of new members, and subtracting email addresses of expired members.

f. The Webmaster-Bibliographer shall compile and distribute the annual bibliography of DeLillo Studies, and maintain the website.

Sec. 5. Officers shall be elected triannually by the Society membership, by mail, e-mail, or vote at the Annual General Meeting, from a slate of nominees. Names of nominees may be submitted by any member of the Society. Terms of office shall be three years, beginning May 30.

Article VI: Meetings

Sec. 1. The Annual General Meeting shall be held in conjunction with the MLA Convention. Special meetings may be called by the President, for social and/or business purposes.

Article VII: Funds and Liabilities

Sec. 1. The funds of this Society shall be collected and dispersed by the Treasurer, for the Society's needs and lawful expenditures. Disbursement of the Society's funds will be in accordance with Article Five of the Articles of Incorporation of the Don DeLillo Society.

Sec. 2. No member of the Society shall be liable except for the payment of dues.

Article IX: Procedures

Sec. 1. Amendment to these By-laws shall be voted upon, by mail, e-mail, or vote at the Annual General Meeting, by the full membership; approval will need a two-thirds majority of those voting. Amendments may be proposed by the officers of the Society, or by petition signed by twenty or more Society members in good standing.

Sec. 2. The Don DeLillo Society will post Calls for Papers (CFPs) online whenever a member wishes to chair a panel at a conference, edit a collection or journal issue.

a. Any member seeking to post a CFP on the Don DeLillo Society website must secure the permission of the Don DeLillo Society officers before doing so. Each CFP should briefly (250 words or fewer) describe the topic, announce the deadline and provide an address for submissions. These CFPs will be publicized in the Don DeLillo Society Newsletter.

b. If more than one member wishes to post a call for a single conference, the membership will vote to select which CFP the Don DeLillo Society will sponsor.

c. Anyone desiring to post a CFP must do so no later than a month before the submission deadline.

d. The Don DeLillo Society particularly seeks to maintain a presence at the annual American Literature Association convention.

e. The Don DeLillo Society also encourages yearly participation at the regional MLA conferences; the MLA convention, and the Twentieth-Century Literature Conference (Louisville, KY).

How to Join the Don DeLillo Society

          To join the Don DeLillo Society, please contact:

Matt King
Listserv Manager
mattking@mail.utexas.edu

Once we receive this email, you will receive an invitation to join the Society listserv. Please include your name, address (to which you'd like mailings sent), your College or University affiliation if any, and your email address.  As membership in the Society is currently free, joining the listserv is the best way to become a member.

          Members of the Society receive email announcements of updates to the Don DeLillo Society's website, including the Newsletter, an annual Bibliography of DeLillo Scholarship, upcoming events (including special sessions, calls for papers), and an annual updated list of members.

          The Society organizes one session at the ALA Conference each May and hosts an informal social gathering during the conference. In addition, the Society publishes an annual Newsletter, annual Bibliography of DeLillo Scholarship, and maintains this website.

Officers of the Society

          The positions below will remain in effect from May 30, 2006 to May 30, 2009. Any member of the Don DeLillo Society may submit nominations for any or all of these positions. The next group of officers (which may include current officers, if they run and are elected) will serve three-year terms, starting May 30, 2009. Nominations must be received by January 1, 2009. Please include contact information for nominees. Send them to Philip Nel at philnel@ksu.edu or at the mailing address below. We will hold elections in March of 2009.

President: Mark Osteen Department of English Loyola College in Maryland 4501 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21210 (410) 617-2363 mosteen@loyola.edu	Secretary: Marni Gauthier Department of English SUNY Cortland P.O. Box 2000 Cortland, NY 13045-0900 gauthierm@cortland.edu www.cortland.edu/english/faculty.htm
Treasurer: Jesse Kavadlo Maryville University College of Arts and Sciences 650 Maryville University Drive St. Louis, MO 63141 (314) 529-9502 jkavadlo@maryville.edu	Editor: Anne Longmuir Department of English ECS Bldg. Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506-6501 (785) 532-2169 longmuir@ksu.edu
Listserv Manager: Matt King Department of English University of Texas at Austin 1 Univ Sta B5000 Austin, TX 78712-1164 mattking@mail.utexas.edu	Webmaster: Philip Nel Department of English ECS Bldg. Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506-6501 (785) 532-2165 philnel@ksu.edu www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/

History of the Don DeLillo Society

          At the 1999 ALA Conference in Baltimore, MD, John Duvall gathered together the particpants in and attendees at two DeLillo panels which, as it happened, were held at consecutive sessions on May 30, 1999, the last day of the conference. The panels were organized by Duvall and Michael Theune. In addition to the two organizers, present at the initial meeting were Glen Scott Allen, Theron Britt, Lou Caton, Joseph Conte, Tim Engles, and Phil Nel.

          That June, the group of Allen, Caton, Conte, Duvall, Nel, and Mark Osteen set about drafting the Don DeLillo Society's By-Laws, establishing interim Officers (President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Editor), and constructing the website. In early July, they sought like-minded people by sending out an email announcement to participants in "Don DeLillo: 'At the Edges of Perception'" (1998), an international conference organized by Jacqueline Zubeck O'Donoghue, Jeoff Bull, Phil Nel, and Mark Osteen; contributors to Modern Fiction Studies' special issue on DeLillo (Fall 1999), edited by John Duvall; contributors to Critical Essays on Don DeLillo (G.K. Hall, 2000), edited by Hugh Ruppersburg and Tim Engles; and by posting an announcement on Curt Gardner's Don DeLillo's America page.

          At the Modern Language Association Conference in December, members Britt, Conte, Catherine Cucinella, Duvall, Engles, Marni Gauthier, Nicole Merola, Nel, Osteen, Chris Ruis-Velasco, Art Saltzman, and Skip Willman met and made future plans, including a few changes to this page (primarily, that memberships and terms of officers will run on a May-to-May academic schedule, and that elections would be held in March of 2000). Recently, the Don DeLillo Society has sponsored panels at the Twentieth-Century Literature Conference (February 2000), at the ALA conference (May 2000, May 2001, May 2002, May 2003), at the MMLA conference (November 2000) at the SAMLA conference (November 2002); and meetings at the MLA (December 2000, December 2001, December 2002).