The professor and the profession / Robert Bechtold Heilman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heilman, Robert Bechtold, 1906-2004.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English philology--Study and teaching (Higher)--United States.

English philology.

American literature--20th century--History and criticism.

American literature.

English literature--History and criticism.

English literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (368 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of Missouri Press, c1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Robert Bechtold Heilman is one of the last survivors of a remarkable generation of American critics that included such literary giants as Cleanth Brooks, Allen Tate, & Edmund Wilson, men to whom literary criticism was not a profession or an academic necessity but a calling. In a distinguished career that has spanned nearly six decades, Heilman has influenced generations of scholars & critics through his exquisitely written commentaries on subjects ranging from William Shakespeare to Thomas Hardy. In The Professor & the Profession, Heilman looks back over his life & times from his perspective as both an academic & an American. Differing in theme & subject matter, the essays included in this collection are ultimately unified by the author himself. Whether the topic is football, Robert Penn Warren, or education, Heilman's generous & intelligent voice emerges on every page. Yet this collection is more than one academic's personal reminiscences; it is a reflection upon American literary history itself. In the first section of essays, "The Self Displayed," Heilman reveals how he developed from a small-town boy into a distinguished critic & teacher, touching upon his love of baseball & football along the way. "Writers Portrayed" & "Literary Types & Problems Inspected," the following sections, offer his opinions on the past & on the current state of American literary criticism, including personal portraits of such renowned friends as Eric Voegelin, Robert Penn Warren, Theodore Roethke, & Malcolm Cowley. The final section, "Education Examined," is an enlightening inquiry into the development of American universities in the twentieth century. A fascinating chronicle of a significant academic life, The Professor & the Profession will appeal to a broad array of scholars, from young academics wanting to know where they came from to those of Heilman's generation who can appreciate this personal reminiscence into the world of letters.

Contents:

Intro

contents

preface

acknowledgments

index.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0-8262-6075-6

OCLC:

70746057