OXFORD,
Miss. – One of the most respected American critics of contemporary
poetry discusses the work of Samuel Beckett, winner of the 1969 Nobel
Prize in Literature, Sept. 17 at the University of Mississippi.
Considered by many to be one of the greatest writers in English from the second half of the 20th century, Beckett is well-known as a novelist. However, his poetry, deemed weak by most critics and Beckett himself, is the focus of the upcoming lecture by Marjorie Perloff, Sadie D. Patek professor emerita of humanities at Stanford University and current scholar-in-residence at the University of Southern California.
Presented as the 48th annual Christopher Longest Lecture, the program is set for 7 p.m. in Bondurant Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.
“I hope to offer some insight into the poetic language of this great – and still misunderstood – Irish writer,” Perloff said. “I’ll trace the development of his poetry from the beginning to the end.”
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Perloff teaches courses and writes on 20th- and 21st-century poetry and poetics, both Anglo-American and from a comparatist perspective, as well as on intermedia and the visual arts.
Involved with the Modern Language Association for 30 years, Perloff served as president of the organization in 2006. She also held a Guggenheim Fellowship 1981-1992, and received the Phi Kappa Phi book award in 1982 for “The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage.” She has authored more than a dozen books on poetry.
“Dr. Perloff is a well-published scholar and theorist of modernist and postmodernist culture,” said Annette Trefzer, UM professor of English. “I especially admire her writing for its lucidity, depth and clarity in dealing with pretty difficult avant-guard writers. She’s a top scholar who actively shapes our profession.”
Perloff received both master’s and doctoral degrees from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1956 and 1965, respectively.
The Christopher Longest Lecture series was established at UM in 1960 by Ann Waller Reins Longest, in recognition of Christopher Longest’s distinguished service to the university from 1908 to 1951 in the departments of Classics and Modern Languages. The annual lectures are delivered by scholars in the fields of the modern languages and English literature.
For more information or for assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7685.