Washington & Lee University English, philosophy professors team up for third book collaboration

Washington and Lee University professors Chris Gavaler and Nathaniel Goldberg have collaborated on a new book “Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons and Rejects Explain the World.”

“Revising Reality” hit bookshelves on May 30, 2024, and is produced by Bloomsbury Publishing. The book is the third collaboration published by Gavaler, associate professor of English, and Goldberg, professor of philosophy. The duo previously teamed up to publish “Revising Fiction, Fact, and Faith: A Philosophical Account” in 2020 and “Superhero Thought Experiments: Comic Book Philosophy” in 2019.

Their latest publication uses pop culture concepts to untangle real-world histories.

“Novels, comics, films and TV shows can continue events (sequels), reinterpret events (retcons) or restart events (remakes), and audiences can ignore any of these revisions (rejects). We draw on these kinds of revisions from ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and Marvel comics to analyze scientific discoveries, Supreme Court cases, folk heroes and even trans names and human memory.”

Describing their third experience co-authoring a book, Gavaler said: “The great thing about our collaboration is that Nat and I could probably have each written maybe 25 percent individually, so 50 percent in total, but it’s the other 50 percent that feels like magic.”

Goldberg said he can spend a couple hours writing, then take a walk.

“And, when I come back, as if by magic, my mistakes have been fixed and a couple more pages have been added,” Goldberg said of the collaboration.

The research leading to the book was made possible through assistance from the Summer Lenfest Grant and the Class of 1956 Provost’s Faculty Development Endowment.

Gavaler, who has served as a member of the W&L faculty since 2010, has authored or co-authored nine books and several one-act plays, including five winners of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. He holds a bachelor’s in English and a master’s in English education from Rutgers University and a master of fine arts from UVA.

Goldberg has been with the W&L faculty since 2008, and has authored or co-authored four books and has been published extensively throughout his career. He received a bachelor’s in history from Brandeis University, a master’s in philosophy from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Georgetown University.