Search
Episodes by month
Meta
Tags
Africa African American History Animal Rights Art China Civil Rights Civil War Constitution Culture Environment Ethics Europe Existentialism Feminism Fiction French From Protest to Power Gender German History Humanities Human Rights Internet Journalism Literary Criticism Literature Marxism Middle East Music New York Times Novelist Philosophy Poetry Politics Pulitzer Prize Race Religion Shakespeare Southern Literature Spanish Sports The South Victorian Victorian literature Western Culture
Tag Archives: Literary Criticism
American Medical Education and the Liberal Arts; Commentary on Opinion Polls, The New Criticism and the American Literary Community: Response; The New Criticism and the American Literary Community: Summary; U.S. Foreign Policy in Latin America and the Third World
William C. Dowling describes the close textual analysis that characterizes the New Criticism, and its value to professors and students at the undergraduate level in understanding texts at depths previously not taught. Dowling explains that in the 1960s some of the conflicts among New Critics and the developing New Criticism were attempts to recover literature for literary purposes–as opposed to readings as historical documents or glimpses into an author’s life.
At the time of this interview, William C. Dowling was a National Humanities Center Fellow (1979-80) and professor of English at the University of New Mexico.
In the second segment [5:20], which continues the topic of New Criticism, Cleanth Brooks explains that the genesis of New Criticism occurred in the “methodizing” of literature studies at American universities and the subsequent rejection of historicist readings of texts; it promotes instead the idea that a poem or other literary work is neither static nor fixed in a time or place.
Cleanth Brooks is known as a pioneer of the New Criticism movement. He was a National Humanities Center Fellow (1979-80 and 1980-81), and professor of English at Yale University.
In the third segment [9:00], Wayne Pond and Charles Bergquist have a conversation about United States foreign policy in Latin America and other third world countries. Bergquist argues that U.S. policy makers have had good intentions in Latin America, despite some adverse results. He discusses the meaning of the term “The Free World,” and how it relates to the democratizing of underdeveloped nations. The U.S., Bergquist believes, plays an increasingly reactionary role as tensions grow in these nations and capitalism is called into question. Bergquist discusses prospects for Latin America as a self-sustaining region and powerful force in the world; he also discusses high birth rates in the region and development as a means of birth control, and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and its policies regarding birth control.
At the time of this interview, Charles Bergquist was a National Humanities Center Fellow (1980-81) and professor of history at Duke University.
In the fourth segment [17:30], Dr. Carlton Chapman and John Agresto, with Wayne Pond, discuss the state of American medical education and the liberal arts. They address the philosophical underpinnings of medical education in the United States and agree that emphasis should be on teaching holistic methods of treatment, rather than memorization. They make recommendations for restoring faith in organized medicine among Americans and offer their views on the future of medical education.
Carlton Chapman was Dean of the School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and the immediate past president of the Commonwealth Fund at the time of this interview. John Agresto was a staff member at the National Humanities Center.
Concluding the program [26:45], National Humanities Center Director William Bennett comments on the value of opinion polls, with attention to the difference between numbers and wisdom.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
William C. Dowling describes the close textual analysis that characterizes the New Criticism, and its value to professors and students at the undergraduate level in understanding texts at depths previously not taught. Dowling explains that in the 1960s some of the conflicts among New Critics and the developing New Criticism were attempts to recover literature for literary purposes–as opposed to readings as historical documents or glimpses into an author’s life.
At the time of this interview, William C. Dowling was a National Humanities Center Fellow (1979-80) and professor of English at the University of New Mexico.
In the second segment [5:20], which continues the topic of New Criticism, Cleanth Brooks explains that the genesis of New Criticism occurred in the “methodizing” of literature studies at American universities and the subsequent rejection of historicist readings of texts; it promotes instead the idea that a poem or other literary work is neither static nor fixed in a time or place.
Cleanth Brooks is known as a pioneer of the New Criticism movement. He was a National Humanities Center Fellow (1979-80 and 1980-81), and professor of English at Yale University.
In the third segment [9:00], Wayne Pond and Charles Bergquist have a conversation about United States foreign policy in Latin America and other third world countries. Bergquist argues that U.S. policy makers have had good intentions in Latin America, despite some adverse results. He discusses the meaning of the term “The Free World,” and how it relates to the democratizing of underdeveloped nations. The U.S., Bergquist believes, plays an increasingly reactionary role as tensions grow in these nations and capitalism is called into question. Bergquist discusses prospects for Latin America as a self-sustaining region and powerful force in the world; he also discusses high birth rates in the region and development as a means of birth control, and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and its policies regarding birth control.
At the time of this interview, Charles Bergquist was a National Humanities Center Fellow (1980-81) and professor of history at Duke University.
In the fourth segment [17:30], Dr. Carlton Chapman and John Agresto, with Wayne Pond, discuss the state of American medical education and the liberal arts. They address the philosophical underpinnings of medical education in the United States and agree that emphasis should be on teaching holistic methods of treatment, rather than memorization. They make recommendations for restoring faith in organized medicine among Americans and offer their views on the future of medical education.
Carlton Chapman was Dean of the School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and the immediate past president of the Commonwealth Fund at the time of this interview. John Agresto was a staff member at the National Humanities Center.
Concluding the program [26:45], National Humanities Center Director William Bennett comments on the value of opinion polls, with attention to the difference between numbers and wisdom.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
Fiction of Joseph Conrad
Ian Watt discusses the panoramic and complicated development of modern fiction by situating the modern novel in general, and the fiction of Joseph Conrad in particular, within a nexus of biographical and historical perspectives.
At the time of this interview, Ian Watt was professor of humanities at Stanford University. He is the author of The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding and Conrad in the Nineteenth Century.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
Posted in Episodes
Tagged Africa, Literary Criticism, Literature, Victorian literature
Leave a comment
Poverty and Society
Gertrude Himmelfarb defines and discusses poverty by tracing its conceptual evolution from the early modern period through Victorian England.
Gertude Himmelfarb, an early Trustee of the National Humanities Center, was professor of history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York at the time of this interview. Her books include Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution, Victorian Minds: A Study of Intellectuals in Crisis and Ideologies in Transition, and On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
Modern Southern Literature
Novelist Guy Owen participated in the 1980 NHC summer institute Voyages of Discovery. Owen describes the process of writing and changing real life into fiction by taking a germ and “running it through the Olympics” of his imagination. He challenges the notion that Southern literature is in decline, citing its rich oral tradition and the ability of Southern authors to vividly render a sense of place and the tempo of Southern life. Owen is author of The Ballad of the Flim Flam Man and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Journey for Joedel. At the time of this interview Owen was writer in residence and professor of English at North Carolina State University.
Exploration and the Antarctic
Literary scholar and explorer Charles Neider discusses the nexus of literature, environmental science, and Antarctica and comments on the continent in terms of its ecological importance to the rest of the globe.
Neider’s books include Edge of the World: Ross Island, Antarctica and Beyond Cape Horn: Travels in the Antarctic. He lead a summer institute for North Carolina citizens, “Voyages of Discovery: On the Literature of Travel and Exploration,” held at the National Humanities Center in 1980.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.