English Studies at the University Of Toronto
Department of English/Faculty of Arts and Science Editor: P. Coles Assistant Editor: M. Perry Winter 2009-2010
Volume 1, Issue 2 Home at Last: The renovations are finished! Winter 2009-10
By Pamela Coles Inside this issue:
The English Department is Home At Last 1 finally at home in the Jack- man Humanities Building. Anthony De Sa 1 Three years of extensive Books that Inspire Faculty 2 renovations are coming to a welcome close and the feel- Nick Mount 4 ing is overwhelmingly one of relief. Walking through the Creative Writing Showcase 7 newly painted corridors, Paris Times Eight: Deidre Kelly 7 sitting in one of our spacious meeting rooms, or visiting the Department’s hallways fore water became a scarce Backpack to Briefcase 8 the Graduate student activity and the crashing of sledge- commodity on all floors DOE Corpus 8 room, one might easily for- hammers against tile, wood and no one could have fore- get the challenges of the and drywall made even think- seen that the faces of con- Richard Van Fossen 9 move. The transition from 7 ing a laughable pursuit. For tractors working in the Northrop Frye 10 King’s College Circle, the months, two of the three building would become Department’s former home, elevators in the building were nearly as well known to Support the Department of 11 has not exactly been a encased in plywood, giving students as the faces of fac- English smooth one but the bumps the ride up and down a singu- ulty. Accolades 12 seem to have gradually less- larly post-mortem feel. At Update your Alumni Information 12 ened in size and frequency. one point during the renova- Discussions to move the This past summer, dust filled tions, bathrooms, and there- continued on page 6 The Department of English, Jackman Humanities Building
Alumni Spotlight: Anthony De Sa
By Pamela Coles ing conversation is as ear- his adoption of fame is a nest as it is entertaining. reluctant one. Self- When I meet him, the Cana- Straight away, he tells me effacement is not a new dian writer Anthony De Sa is that, despite being short- addition to the list of the sitting in his favourite Junc- listed in 2008 for the pres- perceived quintessential tion area café in jeans and a t- tigious Giller Prize, he has attributes of Canadian nov- shirt, quietly working away lingering doubts about the elists. Nor is the persistent on a draft of his second book. legitimacy of his claim to collaboration of pathos and His warmth is immediate and the title of author and that his engagement in our ensu- continued on page 2
Department of English Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2M8 Page 2 English Studies at The University of Toronto
From BOOKS THAT INSPIRE FACULTY, An Exhibition AT THE University of Toronto Libraries, October – December 2009. Anthony De Sa continued from page 1
Catalogue edited by Patricia Bellamy, Maureen Morin & Karen Turko. pleasantry we find in Barnacle As is true for many children of Love a recent innovation in Ca- immigrant parents, De Sa bore Catalogue Designed by Maureen Morin. Copyright © 2009 Univer- nadian fiction. Mordecai the burden of becoming the sity of Toronto Libraries Richler, Margaret Atwood, and embodiment of the iconic immi- more recently, Anne Marie grant dream. In keeping with Gillian Fenwick, Department of much, the thick yellowing English, Trinity College pages, the width of the margins, the quick flow of the story, so Elizabeth and Her that even as a child I German Garden could read it in a day. London: Macmil- lan, 1898. With the copy I now own in my hands, the green My grandparents' cloth covers, the almost house at Lamesley magical first page that I was full of books. have read thousands of Before I could read times, I can recapture that them I loved their feel, their time. It might be far-fetched to smell, the colours of the bind- say that this book shaped my ings, the rough-cut edges, the work researching and teaching way you could actually finger bibliography and book history, the impression of the type. I yet the things I loved about it as learnt to read turning their pages a child, colour, cloth, paper, again and again, the words fix- words, type, motifs, patterns, ing their shape and in time their repetitions, are indeed the fun- meaning in my mind. This was damentals of the study of books one of my favourites. It is not a as physical objects. children's book, not particularly suitable for a child, and no-one I suspect my grandmother's ever read it to me, yet it became copy eventually disintegrated from my enthusiastic use, so it a part of me. I learned to love MacDonald all made steady the ambitions of his “arranged the diary format, the songs of gave me great pleasure a few work of the somewhat alarming life”, as he describes it, his par- the owls and nightingales set out years ago to find this first edi- in musical notation, the lists of tion presentation copy in a used combination before he did. Not ents took it for granted that he the names of roses, the humour book store for only £6. surprisingly, the uniqueness of would one day become a re- and bad temper of the husband, De Sa’s contribution to the ar- spectable professional of the the Man of Wrath, and, just as resting blend lies not in a re- higher wage-earning kind. He fashioning of a Canadian narra- was supposed to become a stu- continued on page 4 tive tradition but in his immi- dent of law or of medicine, not grant roots. He names its a student of English. English source in the opening pages of was, after all, the language one his book. “The Portuguese call strove to speak. It wasn’t con- it saudade: a longing for some- sidered a career choice. thing so indefinite as to be inde- finable.” He never thought he’d be a
Department of English, Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2M8 Page 3 English Studies at The University of Toronto
Anthony De Sa continued from page 2 writer. “I still tell people when to be the least of his chal- nantly Anglo cultural and liter- and longing remain dominant I meet them”, he admits “that I lenges. During his first year at ary rights. He smiles when he forces in his work. am a teacher and a writer.” the University of Toronto, his learns that the concern of father, his grandfather, his “passing” was one he unknow- Tentatively titled Carnival of Most successful authors will grandmother and his best Desire, this new novel takes off tell you that if you want to be friend all passed away within from the latent exploration, in a great writer you need to read months of each other. His Barnacle Love, of the ramifica- great writing. Despite growing best friend’s sudden death tions for various Toronto up in a house that was devoid was particularly devastating communities of the brutal of the written word, De Sa has but he recalls feeling wholly rape and murder, in 1977, of always been a reader. From a supported throughout the shoe-shine boy Emanuel young age, books offered a ordeal by administrators and Jacques. Those readers who refuge, a world to escape to professors at the University. found themselves easily caught from the intense, often crazy Ultimately, he says, of that up in the intimate narrative of reality of his family life. Un- darker time, the U of T be- his first project will find them- wittingly then, De Sa began came an extension of home to selves hooked once again by grooming himself for future him. the chiaroscuro revelation of literary success by enrolling in events that transform pro- an undergraduate program at But even home away from tagonist, Antonio Rebelo and the University of Toronto that home could be fraught with a ingly shared with one of his the entire city in which he added critical industry to what familiar sense of alienation. In professors at the time, Linda lives. had always been a labour of an exaggeratedly WASP Eng- Hutcheon. The self-described More information on Anthony love. lish Department, the surname “cultural hybrid” often jokes De Sa stood out amongst the De Sa’s upcoming novel is When I asked him what that taking her husband’s sur- available on the author’s web- McKinnons, the Clarkes and name allowed her to shed some courses, books or professors the Turners who, by dint of site: www.anthonydesa.com he enjoyed most during his of her early anxieties of influ- their heritage, seemed simply ence as a burgeoning Italian- student days he made it em- to be laying claim to what was phatically simple. “I liked them Canadian literary theorist in a naturally, rightfully and al- predominantly Anglo-Canadian all.” As most English students ready theirs. And although he do, he found the required academic environment. De Sa’s identifies the front door of his nominations for the 2008 Giller reading for multiple literature childhood home on Palm- courses both exhilarating and Prize and the 2009 Toronto erston Ave as the threshold Book Award certainly lay to overwhelming. He remembers between his Portuguese life thinking that it was humanly rest any question of his Cana- and his Canadian life, he ad- dian literary pedigree and his For more information on impossible to make it through mits that he relied on his un- worries of “passing” are cer- The Scotiabank Giller Prize, visit: the protracted list for John characteristic blond hair and O’Connor’s course on Cana- tainly a thing of the past but it www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca blue eyes to help him out- becomes evident, as we finally dian Literature. Unfortu- wardly “pass” as a legitimate nately, the reading lists proved move to the subject of his up- heir to those same predomi- coming book, that alienation
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Linda Hutcheon, Department of English and Comparative Nick Mount: The Feast is the Thing Literature
La Divina chusetts.” Unlike other first- say on the material than I do.” Commedia: year literature courses, ENG The admission is not one a pro- Inferno 140Y1Y isn’t meant to be a fessor is usually willing to make; Edited by sweeping survey where stu- not publicly anyway, and it Natalino dents are exposed to sparse serves as yet another example of Sapegno. VI. offerings of a multitude of why his approach to teaching 1. Firenze: La Nuova Italia, genres and titles. “The course has earned him the highest of 1955. is meant to be a banquet,” says accolades. And his intellectual At the age of nineteen, my life Professor Mount. And it’s a generosity and humility don’t was hell, well, the Inferno of sumptuous one. end there. Each spring he shares Dante Alighieri. Hell is not the spotlight when he invites Drama, poetry and fiction are usually considered the kind of three contemporary authors to the staples on offer in gener- place that opens up literature's discuss their work with him in possibilities for undergraduates, ous portions that evoke the an informal interview format. but this one made me want to fuller context of individual The medium is one that reso- be a scholar of language and works. The poem “Daddy,” literature. Intrigued from the nates strongly with a student for example, may be the fea- famous opening lines, "Nel body that counts intelligent talk ture piece of a lecture on Syl- mezzo del cammin di nostra shows as an important source of via Plath, but Ariel, the book in vita / mi ritrovai per una selva information. Of course, it doe oscura... ," two cantos and which the poem is found, is not hurt that Mount also knows many dictionary consultations read in its entirety. As far as how to pick a winner. Richard later, I was hooked-on the opu- food for thought goes and in lence of the terza rima verse, on Powers, the esoteric young keeping with Mount’s banquet the astute portraits of the American author of The Echo model, you don’t just get to damned sinners, punished in a By Pamela Coles Maker, was named a finalist for eat dessert. All the other stuff manner fitting their crimes, on the Pulitzer Prize shortly after the moving story of the pilgrim We get a preliminary idea of just on the plate counts in equal his in-class visit in 2007. Mount seek.ing salvation, on the alle- why Nick Mount won a Presi- measure. It’s a pedagogical cheekily suggests that the two gorical complexities of the dent’s Award for Excellence in concept that can get lost in medieval Christian world. I events are likely unrelated. Pro- Teaching in 2009 just by reading other anthology-based eventually made it to Purgato- the description for his course, fessor Mount’s mordant sense rio and even Paradiso, but my courses. ENG 140Y1Y Literature of our of humour is never far from any true intellectual life began in That doesn’t mean, though, discussion one might have with hell. Time. In the second line, the reading list is treated less as an that Professor Mount doesn’t him and one can imagine that, inventory than an invitation to have his favourites. Chris in the classroom, this same wit continued on page 5 discover the way we portal Ware’s graphic novel Jimmy plays a significant role in his through literature to “London Corrigan is one of them, but designs on his students interest Bridge on a foggy winter morn- not for all of the reasons we in whatever subject is at hand. might suspect. “Having that ing, a lighthouse off the west Literature, according to Profes- particular book on the sylla- coast of Scotland, a roadside sor Mount, should speak to us bus,” he admits “means that ditch in Georgia, and the bean and not at us and hence, the students often have more to green waters off Nauset, Massa- titular emphasis on Literature
Department of English, Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2M8 Page 5 English Studies at The University of Toronto
Nick Mount, Department of English Nick Mount: Literature For Our Time 2010 continued Freedom from For Our Time rather than of inspired by the murder of Play- vision of contemporary Britain.” Culture: Selected our time. If you are among the mate Dorothy Stratten. Crosbie Essays 1982-92 —Sunday Times 500 students at this award- writes the “Pop Rocks” column Toronto: ECW, 1994. winning banquet table count for the Globe and Mail. yourself lucky but if you missed Though not as well known (or as this year’s seating, there’s al- well titled!) as his earlier collec- ways next. tion Kicking Against the Pricks, John Metcalf's Freedom from The following is next spring's Culture was my own first and line up of Literature For Our most influential encounter with Time Guest Speakers: Metcalf's spiky version of Cana- dian literary criticism. Freedom from Culture is partly what it's Born in Bermuda, British au- usually remembered as: polemi- STEPHEN MARCHE 5 March thor Jon McGregor landed in cal essays about the exaggera- tions of Canadian canon-builders, “With Raymond and Hannah I Nottingham, where he wrote the blind spots of Canadian crit- knew this guy was up to something his first and our featured novel, ics, the perils of state support for brilliant. Shining at the Bottom of the story of one street some- the arts (a line from memory: the Sea tells me I hadn't the faintest where in the North of England. "The Canada Council is the cul- idea.” —Daniel Handler, aka If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable tural counterpart to Meals on LYNN CROSBIE 29 January Lemony Snicket Things (Bloomsbury, 2002) Wheels"). But it's mostly a record of Metcalf's love affair with the made McGregor the youngest “Not since Margaret Atwood’s Power Stephen Marche published his English language, of his convic- contender and the only first Politics has the love poem been this first novel in 2005, the long- tion as a writer, editor, and critic novelist for the 2002 Booker that style, not ideology, is the honest, this intelligent, this grip- distance, digital love story of Prize. It won the Somerset measure of literature. I disagreed ping. Imagine yourself in the middle Raymond and Hannah. Our Maugham Award, and has since with much of what Metcalf said of an autopsy, only to find the heart featured work is Marche’s sec- been selected by Waterstone’s then, and would probably dis- still beating.” ond book, the anthology of an agree with more of it now. But Books as one of their top 100 imaginary island nation called Freedom from Culture forced me —Michael Turner, author of Hard books of the last 25 years. Shining at the Bottom of the Sea to question many things about Core Logo (Viking Canada, 2007). The Canada and its arts that until then Enjoy an hour of talk and conver- I had taken for granted. Of more Montreal-born Lynn Crosbie is New York Times Book Review sation on Fridays from 3:00 p.m. lasting importance, it's the first the author of five books of po- called it “Maybe the most excit- to 4:00 p.m. in the Bader Theatre book of criticism that I actually etry, including Queen Rat, Miss- ing mashup of literary genres of Victoria University, 93 Charles enjoyed reading. For me, the ing Children, and our featured since David Mitchell’s Cloud Street West. lesson of Freedom from Culture work, Liar (Anansi, 2006), a Atlas.” Marche lives in Toronto was and remains this: criticism Literature For Out Time is does not have to be boring. confessional poem about the and is a columnist for the Na- hosted by Professor Nick Mount, mother of all breakups. She is tional Post and Esquire magazine. continued on page 6 from the Department of English, also the author of two contro- JON MCGREGOR 19 MARCH University of Toronto. versial novels, Paul’s Case, based on the Bernardo-Homolka sex “A sensationally accomplished de- All are welcome to attend. crimes, and Dorothy L’Amour, but…a convincing and moving
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John D. Baird, Home at Last continued from page 1 Department of English Department began nine years professionals now houses the and to stay connected with col- Pictures ago with a view to uniting fac- Philosophy, Religion and Eng- leagues and campus life. from an ulty, staff and students in one lish Departments as well as the The building was not zoned for Institution: A building and various spaces on Institute for Diaspora and large classrooms though and Comedy New York: Knopf, campus were considered for its Transnational Studies. The with prime lecture-hall real 1954. new address. 1 Spadina Cres- Jackman Humanities Institute, estate on campus already satu- cent, the huge gothic building the crown jewel of Humanities This book was recommended to rated, the issue has been a re- me by my fellow graduate stu- that once housed Knox College, studies at the University of curring source of frustration. dent at Princeton, George Will. then the Connaught Medical Toronto sits on the topmost One of the great boons of the George is now a well-known Research Laboratories and the floor of the building. political journalist, with most of move, however, has been that Canada Eye Bank, was the ini- whose opinions I vehemently graduate students have been tial choice but the unmanage- Brian Corman, who champi- disagree, but I remain deeply oned the move from the out- allocated a host of beautiful grateful for this recommenda- ability of that move quickly set, had hoped the move from new work-study-lounge spaces tion. became apparent. Apart from with enviable views to the the question of the 39 million 7 King’s College Circle would I was first drawn to the wit: "the South-East. And, in this new dollars it would have cost to all take place at once but it was really damned not only like Hell, not to be. Professors Michael arrangement, their supervisors, they feel loyal to it." Then on renovate this gothic revival Cobb, Uzoma Esonwanne, lucky them, are also never too rereading, I realized that what building, its corridors and stair- far away. With most of the seems to be a loose bundle of wells took up far too much Daniel Justice, and Sara Salih, paint dried and the majority of character sketches is really a floor space and proffered too were the first of the intrepid the appropriate signs affixed to tightly-woven meditation on little flexibility for space man- pioneers to arrive on the North human nature, the human condi- the appropriate doors, the Eng- agement. Shore of Bloor St. At that tion, and the relationship of art to time, JHB defined the new lish Department is now fully life, "the philosopher's stone that Ultimately, it was Toronto Phi- campus frontier for the English operational. The 6th, 7th, 8th, turns knowledge into truth." lanthropist and former U of T Department and its rustic lack and 9th floors of JHB boast I have reread this book many Chancellor Henry N.R. “Hal” of infrastructure rightfully comfortable and inviting work times, to the point that my paper- Jackman who saved the day by earned it, among central ad- spaces for faculty, students and back fell apart and had to be donating the funds necessary to ministrators and campus mail staff that will serve to advance replaced. In dark times it never the Department’s academic loses its power to make me purchase the landmark Medical deliverers the less than affec- laugh, and, like other great Arts Building, which was re- tionate nickname “the out- success and to further foster its comedies, to cry at the same named the Jackman Humanities post.” Since then, most English unique sense of community for time. More than any other novel Building (JHB). Since lease ter- faculty members whose offices years to come. With our boxes that I know, this is a magical minations began here seven were previously scattered of books now unpacked, we are book. years ago, the U of T has been throughout the campus in vari- ready to make this building gradually transforming the ous colleges now find them- serve the mission of the Hu- continued on page 8 building, floor by floor and selves in a much less isolating manities with the same energy office by office. This storied atmosphere. Retired faculty its previous occupants devoted example of the Art Deco archi- members also have dedicated to preserving the health of To- tectural tradition, previously office space here that allows rontonians. filled with doctors and other them to continue their work
Department of English, Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2M8 Page 7 English Studies at The University of Toronto
The Annual Creative Writing Showcase: 4 March 2010
By Jeff Parker such a short time. Second the City of Toronto Book Scholarship selected by Mi- year student, Andrew Mac- Award. chael Redhill. The Department of English’s Donald, will read with his Masters in English in the Field Brooke Lockyer won the Michael Winter has pub- mentor, Toronto novelist of Creative Writing Program Hart House Review Literary lished five works of fiction. Michael Winter, and re- offers a unique combination Contest, the Peter S. Prescott The Big Why won the Drum- cent alum Brooke Lockyer of academic course work and Prize, and the Lenore Marshall mer General's Award and was will read with her mentor, creative writing mentorship Barnard Prize while pursuing nominated for Ontario's Tril- Catherine Bush. in a one-on-one structure that degrees in literature and crea- lium Book Award and the At- is inspirational and challeng- Catherine Bush is the au- tive writing at Columbia Uni- lantic Book Awards Thomas ing to aspiring authors. Stu- thor of three novels. Claire's versity and U of T. Her short Head Raddall Fiction Prize. dents participate in exciting Head (M&S, 2004), short- stories, articles, and reviews This All Happened won the discussions about their craft listed for the Trillium Award, have been published in various Winterset Award and was with guest poets, novelists, and chosen as a Best Book of magazines, including the Hart nominated for the Rogers and playwrights. The pro- the Year by the Globe and House Review, Helicon, Toronto Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. gram also offers the opportu- Mail. The Rules of Engagement Life, Toro, and Spacing. She He was named the first winner nity to engage the more prac- (HarperCollins, 2000), a na- graduated from the MA in of the Writers' Trust of Can- tical aspects of writing tional bestseller, was pub- English in the Field of Creative ada's new Notable Author through master classes and lished internationally, short- Writing Program at the U of T Award in 2008. His most re- meetings with publishers and listed for the City of Toronto in 2009. cent novel is The Architects Are agents. Book Award, and chosen as a Here. Andrew MacDonald was New York Times Notable Book We invite you to join us on 4 born in Edmonton and lives in Creative Writing Showcase: and a Best Book of the Year March 2010 for the Depart- Toronto. His fiction and non- Where: Room 100, Jackman by the LA Times and the Globe ment’s Annual Creative fiction have been published in Humanities Building, 170 St. and Mail. Minus Time Writing Showcase. Enjoy places like The Fiddlehead, George Street (HarperCollins, 1993), her a night of reading that spot- Event, Existere, and Broken Pen- first novel, was also published When: 4 March 2010, lights upcoming and estab- cil. He is currently a student in in the U.S. and the U.K., and 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 pm lished literary talent, and the MA in English in the Field shortlisted for the brings to life the many rea- of Creative Writing Program The event is free and open to the SmithBooks /Books in Can- sons this program has become at the U of T and the winner of public. There will be refreshments ada First Novel Award and such a tremendous success in this year's Adam Penn Gilders and a cash bar.
Paris Times Eight: Finding Myself in the City of Dreams www.dmpibooks.com/book/paris-times-eight
A graduate of the MA Program, of eight visits to Paris. For her, the nurturer of her imagination. Deidre Kelly has published a hu- city takes on a deeper meaning; not mourous and poignant memoire only is it a place of growth, but also of her life, as seen through a series takes on a maternal role as the
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Germaine Warkentin, B2B: Helping our Graduates transition into Life Department of English Presented by the Faculty of Arts the audience. Our second and alumni. It will be an oppor- The Scholar and Science and the Depart- planned event, Skills for the tunity to celebrate, socialize, and Adventurers ments of English, History, and Real World, will be held in the build networks for the future. New York: Innis Cinema Studies, Back- Massey College Common Macmillan, pack to Briefcase events Room on Thursday, 21 January In addition to these three B2B 1950. (B2B) are opportunities for 2010. This event will be an events, the Department of Eng- successful alumni to interact evening focused on skills and lish is also sponsoring a career The book that has most delighted informally with students, to an opportunity for students to skills evening specifically for me over the years-and influenced revisit their alma mater, and to acquire practical information our own MA students. This me deeply-is Richard D. Altick's share their knowledge of navi- pertaining to a career pursuit. event is being planned to address The Scholar Adventurers (1950). gating the professional world. Planned speakers include Wil- the needs and concerns of our Coming out of my first graduate Masters candidates. It will also exam in 1960 I picked it up by liam Morassutti, Managing Di- For three evenings this year, be held in the Jackman Humani- accident in the University of rector, Blank Angus Media three successful alumni from ties Building and is tentatively Manitoba bookstore (we lived in (Toro Magazine); Lisa Khoo, scheduled for 25 February 2010. Winnipeg for a while). It these areas have been invited to CBC National TV News, “The absolutely enraptured me, and I speak about their professional Current”; and Susan Courtney, Along with the other Backpack think set my own course as a experiences. Our first evening, V.P. Group Media Director, to Briefcase evenings, it is hoped scholar. I've recommended it to Screen Reel, was held in Octo- Starcom MediaVest Group. that these evenings will provide countless young people over the ber at Innis College. It featured our students with the skills, both nearly fifty years since. Altick film and video shorts, and an The final B2B event will take professional and personal, to was one of the first scholars ever informal, insightful and at times place here in the Department of confidently and successfully to cite work of mine (to my great irreverent discussion between English on 26 February 2010, secure rewarding employment, surprise), and we had the the speakers (critically ac- when our department will host and help them to prepare for pleasure of meeting when he claimed indie filmmaker and the Famous Alumni Cocktail their future outside of the univer- gave the Alexander Lectures writer Ron Mann, and James Reception in the Jackman Hu- sity. For more information on here some years ago. A fine Cullingham, educator, docu- manities Building. As with all B2B please consult our website scholar, and a wonderful book! mentary filmmaker and sea- the other events, this evening is www.english.utoronto.ca. continued on page 10 soned national broadcaster) and open to current students, faculty Release of Dictionary of Old English Corpus http://tapor.library.utoronto.ca/doecorpus/ By Antonette diPaolo Healey and Shakespeare or 49 MB. The recep- involved in what is without ques- Andy Orchard tion was also a celebration of a tion the most important current homecoming, for the DOE has research project in the history of brought the Corpus home to To- our English language. A fine eve- On Tuesday November 24 a wine ronto, now residing on Robarts ning concluded with a silent auc- and cheese reception was held at Library's server, after being hosted tion of historical prints kindly the Provost's Lodge of Trinity Col- by the University of Michigan for supplied by Glenn Carter, Presi- lege to celebrate the latest updated twelve years. Many friends and dent of RSC HistoricPrints, to release of the monumental Diction- supporters of the crucial and ground help raise funds for the crucial ary of Old English Corpus. The -breaking work of Toni Healey and and inspiring work of the DOE. DOE Corpus consists of at least the rest of her wonderful team at the one copy of every surviving Old DOE were present to mark the on- English text, its total size not quite going achievement of everyone five times the collected works of
Department of English, Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2M8 Page 9 English Studies at The University of Toronto
In Memoriam: Richard Van Fossen (1927—2009)
By JoAnna Dutka sity) in South Carolina. Clemson On retirement in 1991, Dick and generosity as they went through admitted any white male student his wife Ann moved to Pagosa the intricacies of tenure and A member of the Department of from any South Carolina high Springs, Colorado, where they both promotion. English from 1970, Dick Van school – the Departments of Eng- were involved in church and com- Fossen was an exemplary lish and Chemistry together failed munity activities and, particularly, The intensity of his responses to scholar, teacher, and administra- about 30% of freshman. Some of in work at the Chimney Rock Ar- music, to the culture of the early tor. A man of principle, integ- his students could speak only cheological Area. The Van inhabitants of the Four Corners rity, honour, and courtesy, he Gullah, a Creole-based lan- Fossens, wanting to be nearer their area, to the joys and difficulties was committed to his family, to guage. He met five sections of children David and Rachel, who of teaching and learning, and to his Christian faith, to the arts, English and corrected one hun- had remained in the East in New the imperatives of compassion and to his profession. dred papers each week. In 1956, York and Quebec, returned to Can- and faith was remarkable. As he began teaching at Duke, where ada in 2005 and settled in Mont- was his sense of humour and Born in Washington, D.C., he he received tenure and partici- real. Dick was diagnosed with unforgettable smile, even in the enlisted in the U.S. Navy and pated in revising the freshman dementia in 2006 and died of pneu- last months of his life. His son was at the Great Lakes Training curriculum so as to emphasize monia on September 22, 2009. At David tells how Hailu, his friend School when World War II writing and seminar instruc- his funeral, held in Trinity Memo- and care-giver, would catch his ended. His bachelor’s and mas- tion. He moved to Mt. Vernon, rial Anglican Church, hymns of his attention by saying, “Me and ter’s degrees were from Duke Iowa, and Cornell College in 1959 own choosing from Elizabethan Dick are going for a walk.” University and his doctorate where he gained tenure and be- poetry were sung. He is survived from Harvard. His dissertation, came department chair. In 1970, by Ann, by his sister Mary, by Dick would turn to correct him an edition of A Woman Killed along with other members of the David and Rachel and their with “Dick and I.” with Kindness, was published in faculty, he resigned his position – spouses, and by four grandchildren. the Revels series (1961), under at Convocation – in protest Dick Van Fossen: colleague, the general editorship of Clifford against administrative threats to Dick’s work in Renaissance drama friend, mentor, man of convic- Leech. A Folger Library Fel- academic freedom in connection has been long lasting: his editions tion. Sit tibi terra levis. lowship enabled him to prepare with the war in Viet Nam. are widely used, and he was in the an edition of The Jew of Malta, forefront of City Theatre studies (My gratitude to the Van Fossen which appeared in the Regents In the same year he was invited to and topographical understanding of family for helping me with this Renaissance Drama series the University of Toronto as Visit- Renaissance plays. He is recalled tribute to Dick) (1964). Among his later publi- ing Professor at Erindale College by former graduate students, now cations were an edition (now UTM) and was awarded themselves in university positions, of Eastward Ho! , published in tenure. At Erindale he served as as having encouraged young schol- the Revels series (1979), and a Discipline Representative, Dean ars in what was then a new area of collection of papers, A Celebra- of Humanities, and Acting Princi- criticism. His openness to new tion of Ben Jonson, co-edited pal. He also twice served as Act- ideas was also evident in matters of with William Blissett and Julian ing Chair of the Department of curriculum: he invited his col- Patrick (1973). English. His many other adminis- leagues at Erindale to present new trative responsibilities included a courses that later became regular Dick’s teaching career began number of committees of the offerings in the department as a before he went to Harvard: he MLA, organizing an MLA confer- whole, and he welcomed innova- was in the English Department at ence in Toronto, and representing tions in teaching methods. Younger Clemson Agricultural and Me- the University of Toronto at the members of the English group chanical College (now Univer- Council of Ontario Universities. were supported with wisdom and Page 10 English Studies at The University of Toronto
Leslie Thomson, Chair, Department Critiquing the Critic: Northrop Frye of English and Drama, University By Pamela Coles much ongoing and contempo- the backdrop of their own of Toronto rary critical engagement with unique contributions to the Northrop Frye is often re- Mississauga Frye’s work has issued from field of literary criticism and to ferred to as the founding fa- the Department of English. the Canadian literary scene. King Lear, Edited by Kenneth Muir. ther of literary criticism at Branko Gorjup, a retired U of For those of us more familiar Arden Shakespeare. London: the University of Toronto. T lecturer has recently edited a with Northrop Frye’s larger, Methuen, 1972. His contribution to the field collection of critical essays more global works such as is immeasurable and his leg- As an undergraduate in English at U entitled Northrop Frye’s Cana- Anatomy of Criticism (1957) and of T I studied King Lear and realized acy remains indelible. Al- dian Literary Criticism and Its The Great Code: The Bible and that even for Shakespeare it is some- though his initial academic Influence (University of To- Literature (1982) and less famil- thing special. Then I studied it as an ties at the U of T were ronto Press, 2009). A very iar with Frye’s earlier critical English graduate student and appre- strongest to the Centre for palpable tension arises be- investment in Canadian literary ciated it even more. But only when I Comparative Literature, had taught it as a member of the tween these essays that engage culture, these essays provide a English faculty did I really start to Frye’s work in both compli- useful balance of praise and understand its importance as a piece mentary and contradictory problematization of Frye’s of theatre and a work of literature. ways. Contributors to the labour to define and rhetorical Each time I read it again, I see and book include: Russell tendency to confine the Cana- learn something new about both Brown, Eleanor Cook, Mi- dian poetic imagination. Shakespeare's genius and human chael Dixon, Linda Hutch- nature. Because of its complexities, This is a must have resource this play has been admired, dreaded, eon, Heather Murray, and for those interested in the on- performed, reworked, and examined Rosemary Sullivan, who are going dialogue and debate be- repeatedly over the centuries, but no all current or former profes- approach will ever completely satisfy sors of the Department of tween Frye and contemporary our sense of its value as a work of art English. In this volume, scholars on the characterization or exhaust its ability to surprise. they engage with Frye’s and classification of a unique species. Woodcut of King Lear executed by work from a variety of criti- H. W. Hewett. From The Illustrated cal frameworks and against Shakespeare. Edited by G.C. Ver- planck. Vol. III, Tragedies. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1847. Changing with the times: www.english.utoronto.ca
The Department of English has launched our newly re-designed website. The new address is www.english.utoronto.ca .
Although it is still undergoing modifications and additions, we encourage you to visit our new website and to take a look around. Until it is running per- fectly, we will keep our old website at www.utoronto.ca/english up and run- ning.
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Department of English Accolades UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF ARTS & SCIENCE We would like to the 2009 Outstanding Israel this December. Jackman Humanities Building recognise the following Teaching Assistant 170 St. George Street faculty and students: Awards in English. We offer our congratula- Toronto, Ontario tions to these individuals, M5R 2M8 Canada George Elliot Clarke, Kasia Juno Von Schaik, and look forward to see- Office hours: 8:45 am—5:00 pm, who amongst his many who won first prize in the ing what all members of Monday to Friday awards and honours, Quebec Writing Compe- the English Department received an honorary tition, 2009, (Quebec will accomplish in the doctorate from the Writer's Federation Liter- coming months. www.english.utoronto.ca Royal Military College ary Awards). of Canada. General Inquiries: Jessica Duffin Wolfe, 416-978-3190 Rohanna Green and for receiving the Tan- 416-978-2836 Emily Simmons, who nenbaum Fellowship, [email protected] were the recipients of which is taking her to
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