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January-March Memorials, Gifts and Donations Libraries For the Future Update Guest Speaker
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Guest Speaker
We are privileged to have as our guest speaker Carl Woodring, George Edward
Woodberry Professor of Literature Emeritus, Columbia University in the City
of New York. Carl was born in Terrell, Texas and received a B.A. and an M.A.
from Rice University. His education took a short detour, courtesy of the
U.S. Navy, while he served as an officer aboard a minesweeper from
1942-1946. After the war he returned to school, receiving an A.M. and a
Ph.D. from Harvard University. He taught at the University of Wisconsin from
1948-1961, rising from instructor to professor. In 1961 he accepted a
professorship at Columbia University, in the Department of English and
Comparative Literature. In addition to holding the Woodberry Professorship,
he was also Department Chairman and served on the Columbia Society of
Fellows in the Humanities as Chairman and Co-Chairman. He has published
books on Wordsworth, Coleridge, British Romantic Poetry, and numerous other
works. His latest book is Literature: an Endangered Profession, published by
the Columbia University Press, 1999. Carl's presentation, "Keeping Books", will focus on the modern role of the
printed, bound book that by tradition contains an argument carried to its
conclusion or a narrative continued into closure. He will mention forces in
contemporary culture that are meeting to challenge the preeminence of the
traditional book as custodian of human concerns. The heart of the talk will
be examples of technological change that have permanently eliminated
historical and intellectual evidence. He will describe the situation that
offers a variety of challenges to the prestige of "great books."
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