--TEMPLE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES: THE AMERICAN IDEA
THURSDAY 4/18 AT 3:30 PM (PALEY LIBRARY LECTURE HALL)
"Walt Whitman: An American Icon"
Walt Whitman’s legacy—iconoclast, celebrity, and the father of American poetry—is unparalleled in its influence on American writing and culture. Join David Haven Blake and Michael Robertson, professors of English at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and co-editors of Walt Whitman, Where the Future Becomes Present (University of Iowa Press, 2008) to discuss the impact that Whitman has had on American culture—an impact that reaches far beyond his influence on poetry. Blake is also the chair of the English Department at TCNJ, and author of Walt Whitman and the Culture of American Celebrity (Yale University Press, 2006). Robertson is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships and author of the award-winning book Worshipping Walt: The Whitman Disciples (Princeton UP, 2008). This program will be moderated by Katherine Henry, associate professor of English at Temple.
David Haven Blake is chair and professor of English at The College of New Jersey where he teaches courses on 19th- and 20th-century American literature and creative non-fiction. His work has appeared in a variety of journals, websites, and magazines including the Virginia Quarterly Review, American Literary History, the Huffington Post, and American Studies. He is currently writing a book about politics and celebrity during the Eisenhower era.
Michael Robertson, a professor of English at The College of New Jersey, is author of the award-winning Worshipping Walt: The Whitman Disciples (Princeton University Press, 2008). He is on the editorial board of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review.
Moderator Katherine Henry, Associate Professor of English, is currently working on a book-length project on the 19th C. Philadelphia Gothic.
http://library.temple.edu/
