Humanities Faculty Spotlight:

NEH Summer Seminars in Columbus

The summer is usually a relatively quiet time in the Department of English – but not this year. In June and July 2008, Denney Hall played host to two National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminars, both directed by Distinguished University Professors in the Department of English.

The first, running from June 16 to July 25, is a seminar on "Narrative Theory: Rhetoric and Ethics in Fiction and Nonfiction," directed by Jim Phelan, 2008 Distinguished University Professor and a world-renowned authority on narrative. This is the fourth offering of the seminar in Columbus, and this year's group will benefit from visits by David Herman (English) and Julia Watson (Comparative Studies) who will lead discussions of cognitive narratology and lifewriting respectively. The seminar will engage in a close reading of Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, Ian McEwan's Atonement, Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking.

The second, running from June 23 to July 20, is a seminar on "Religion in English History and Literature from The Canterbury Tales through Pilgrim's Progress," and is directed by John King, 2004 Distinguished University Professor and an expert on Reformation literature and history. This seminar is for Secondary School Teachers of English and History, and will bring teachers and their students to new levels of engagement with classic works of English literature, placing Chaucer, Spenser, Donne, and Milton in a rich context of religious upheaval, political change, and the revolution in print. To have two such dedicated scholars devote their summers to teaching the subjects that they love is an inspiration to us all.