.The Scarlet a Black, October 14. ism—page 12

 

Faculty books cover history, humanities

Ideas expanded with quixotic zeal

By Elaine Ashbaugh
and Tracey Tomashpol

The rollowing article is the
second in a two-part feature on
Grinnell prolessors‘ published
books.

David Jordan, Associate
Professor of History at Grinnell, in
conjunction with Lois G. Carr, has
written a book entitled Maryland's
Revolution of Government, I689-
1692. Unlike traditional history
books. the work does not examine
political movement and its con-
sequences by looking at the top
echelons of government Rather,
according to Professor of History
Dun A. Smith, Jordan’s work
”represents the current interest
historians have in local history.”

Following today’s trend to study
movements on a “grassroots
level," Jordan and Carr study the
composition of the Maryland privy
council, the provincial elites, and
what effect changes in England
had on colonial political life. Smith
said the work received very
favorable reviews and is an “i s
dispensable work on Maryla
history at that time,"

SMITH, chairman of the history
department, commented on
Grinnell‘s policy toward faculty
research and writing. Smith said
he believes it is critical that the
college signalize and reward the
publishing activities of facility
members. Grinnell College has
f‘never made publishing a con—
dition of staying here," but does
encourage writing, said Smith.
Smith believes encouragement
rather than a punitive “publish or
perish” attitude Should prevail.

James D. Kissane, Carter-
Adams Professor of Literature, is
another published member of the
faculty. Under the auspices of the
Twayne English Author Series, he
wrote a book on Alfred Tennyson.
According to Associate Professor
of English Edward Moore, the
work is critical as well as
biographical and is designed
primarily for undergraduates.
Moore spoke highly of the work and
commented that many copies had
been sold.

ALONG with a second Grinnell
professor, M.M. Liherman, Ames
Professor of English Literature,
Kissane wrote two works entitled
The Practice of Criticism and A
Preface to Literary Analysis, both
technical reference works.
Liberman also produced A Modern
Lexicon of Literary Terms in-
dividuallyr In addition to thﬂe
reference works, Liberman has
written Katherine Anne Porter’s
Fiction and Maggot and Worm, a
collection of short stories Ac—
cording to Moore, few works have
been written about Porter and
Liberman’s book was very well
received. Chapters from the book

 

have also been published in other
collections of essays. Therorter
work is directed toward “students
of Katherine Anne Porter
specifically." according to Moore.

MAGGOT and Worm was
produced as an expensive, limited
edition by a private press in Iowa.
Moore describes the individual
stories as “finely wrought. delicate
stories similar to Katherine Anne
Porter's.”

Christopher McKee, Librarian of
the College, has written a work
entitled Edward Preble. A Naval
Biography, House-L The Naval
institute Press of Annapolis,
Maryland, published the work in
1972.

Edward Preble, subject of
McKee’s work, began his naval
career at the age of seventeen,
Although spending time on mers
chant voyages, most of Preble’s
pre-l733 career, including that
during the Revolutionary War, was
in the Massachusetts state navy.
Preble spent the sixteen following
years in the merchant service, but
within months of the formation of
the Federal Navy in the 1790’s,
requested a naval commission.

NAVAL history remembers
Preble for many reasons, McKee
carefully enumerates each. He
commanded the naval force which
“demonstrated before Tangier and
blockaded Tripoli between 1803 and
1805 in order to end the
depredations of the Barbary
pirates." as a review in the
Mariners Mirror states. Preble is
well known for bringing Tripoli to
reasonable terms in this war.
President Jefferson, following
Preble’s return from Tripoli, put
him in charge of production of
gunboats for the Navy. Preble is
host remembered, however, for his
strict training discipline. He ap-
parently singlehandedly produced
a group of naval men known as the
”Preble Boys" who were in-
strumental in the United States
victory in the War of 1812,

McKee’s work received
numerous, extensive reviews, in
such periodicals as the Maine
Historical Society Newsletter,
William and Mary Quarterly,
Choice, The Historian, The
Mariner’s Mirror, the Journal of
American History, and the
American Historical Review. The
general concensus was that, in
both quality and extensiveness,
McKee’s work surpasses the en-
deavors of previous works on
Preble.

THE Journal of American
History describes the work as
“clearly the best of the lot” while
the William and Mary Quarterly
states, “Christopher McKee has
written the most comprehensive
book about Preble ever at-
tempted.” Choice, a journal which

 

A. Richard Turner

reVlews new books with a view to
college library buying, gave
McKee an excellent review,
Describing the work as “highly
readable and scholarly,“ Choice’s
review continued by recom-
mending the Work “for any college
leveli”

ASSISTANT Professor of Ger-
man .Iennifer MichaelssTonk's
work, DH Lawrence, The
Polarity of North and South
Germany in His Prose Works,
appeared in 1976. The book was an
expanded and revised edition of
Michaels' Ph.D. dissertation.
Professor F. Andrew Brown, who
commented on the work, believes
this is ”definitely a major Corr
tribution in the field”

Michaels goes further than
previous critics in assessing the
values of Lawrence’s German
experiences on his writing. As
Brown points out, “Michaels
develops the idea that Lawrence’s
‘ideal man’ was a synthesis of
intellect and the senses." In the
work, Germany represents the
abstract and intellect while Italy
providﬁ the symbols for the
sensuous side of life.

BROWN says that Michaels also
does some pioneering work on
Nietzsche’s impact on Lawrence
and discovers how Lawrence
adapted Nietzche’s ideas in his
work. Michaels also considers
Freud's impact on Lawrence, but
concludes that such inﬂuence was
minimal,

In considering Michaels‘ as well
as other professor works, Brown
said that publishing is important,
partly because it shows that “one
is not dealing only with secondary
sources but is doing original
work," Brown added that although
the library size may be a deterring
factor. I-LITE and sabbaticals
give professors the needed chance
to do research.

ENGLISH professor Moore has
compiled, edited, and introduced a
book containing prefaces on
Shakespeare by Harley Granville-
Barker, a famous English director
and critic. The work, entitled
llarley Granvillc~l3arkers'
Prefaccs to Shakespeare, draws
together four prefacs previously
published only in private editions.
Thus, Moore has expanded the
total number of widely published
Gl‘anvillesBarker prefaces to
fourteen.

Moore came across the four

 

prefaces while researching the
London theatre for his PhD.
Moore's thesis contains a chapter
which deals with Granville-
Barker. The Prefaces to
Shakespeare appeared in 1974, six
years after the completion of
Moore’s PhD, The work was very
well received, especially in
England where numerous
publications, including the London
Times Literary Supplement and
Drama Survey, gave it complete
coverage. In addition to the
Granville-Barker work, Moore has
also written an essay entitled
“Henry Irving’s Shakespearean
Productions” for the Theatre
Survey, The American Journal or
Theatre History.

HELENA Percas de Ponseti,
Richards Professor of Modern
Languages, has published a two
volume work on Cervantes entitled
Cervantes y su Concepto del Artei
The very length of the work (690
pages) shows how much ground
Ponseti covered.

Beth Noble, Professor of
Spanish, says the work received
excellent reviews, both in the {1.5.
and abroad. “It merited a lead
article on the front page of the
London Times Literary Sup-
plementi Critics have acclaimed
the work as a major, significant
contribution to Quixote scholar-
ship.” One critic said it was the
most original and intelligent
contribution he had read.

AMONG THE many things
discussed in the book, Ponseti
does the “most exhaustive study
ever made on the Cave of Mona
tesmos episode in Don Quixote.“
according to the critic. Ponseti
examines exhaustively the levels
of comprehension in Quixote, the
multiplicity of possible reading
levels, and numerous other topics.

President of the College A.
Richard Turner. also Professor of
Art here, produced a work entitled
The Vision of Landscape in
Renaissance ltnly (1966), while
teaching at Princeton. Written in
1963764, the work sprang from
Turner’s research on the begin
nings of landscape painting in
Europe. Developing the social
setting for the outgrowth of the
landscape genre, Turner's work
deals with the Italian landscape in
relationship to similar productions
ill Northern Europe. Currently,
Turner is Working'on a series of as
yet unpublished essays concerning

‘ directions.

 

the Renaissance. These essays
were begun while ’hlrner was on
leave in Italy, 1973,74.

AMONG Professor of History
Joseph F. Wall’s better known
works are his biographies of An—
drew Carnegie and Henry Wats
terson. Both were prize—winning
works: Andrew Carnegie was
awarded the Bancroft Prize,
considered the highest honor which
can be bestowed in the historical
profession; Henry Walterson

, received the Beverldge Prize.

According to Professor of
History and American Studies
Alan Jones, both of these historical
biographies are in the “tradition of
Alan Nevins," a significant
historical biographer under whom
Wall studied, Both works were
highly acclaimed within the
profession, says Jones, but
”because of their literary and
narrative powers, they were also
Well received outside the
profession, both here and abroad,”

WALL'S work differs from that
of others done on Carnegie, He
avoids being “captured" by his
subject and, unlike others, refrains
from heroworship, says Jones. He
“maintains a critical approach and
distance to the subject matter,"
retaining a thorough historical
understanding of the topic, Jones
Said. His work on Carnegie is not
an apology for an industrial
statesman, but a “fair assessment
of Carnegie as a ‘robbersbaron’ as
well as an industrial statesman,"
Jones added.

Praident Turner, speaking of
Grinnell professors’ publications,
contrasted the pressure exerted by
some universities for professors to

James D.
Kissane

publish as much as possible with
Grinnell’s policy of top priority for
teaching ability. Although Grinnell
encourages research leading to
publication. Turner does not
neglect to consider the value of
other, less tangible, less publicized
evidence of ongoing research. Such
proof may come in many forms,
including on- or off-campus
lectures or participation in
educational conferences.

Turner praised the versatility of
Grinnell’s faculty, considering it a
strong point of the school. He
pointed to publication as only one
evidence of this versatility. Turner
had equal praise for those
professors who have not published
but who, through personal
research, have continued to ex-
pand their knowledge in many
He believes such
research is reflected in the
classroom and especially in the
outstanding ability of some
professors to add new courses to
their department’s repertoire as a
result of completely independent
research done while at Grinnell.

 

