Washington State University English Professor and Humanities Fellow Donna M. Campbell will present “Edith Wharton’s Two Americas” at 5:30 p.m. Tues., Feb. 21, in Goertzen 21 (GCAD 21). The presentation is co-hosted by the Humanities Planning Group (HPG) and the Honors College, and is free and open to the public.
Campbell, Dept. of English professor and vice chair, said the lecture will show how the study of Wharton, and by extension literature of the past, can illuminate the parallels between the past and present-day issues.
The presentation will have two parts, both drawn from Campbell’s fellowship research project: editing Wharton’s The House of Mirth (1905) for the 30-volume series, The Complete Works of Edith Wharton (Oxford University Press), as well as the creation of “Digital Wharton,” an interactive exhibit designed to bridge the gap between Wharton’s world and our own for general readers. Campbell is a co-editor of the series, and lead editor for the exhibit.
Campbell researches and teaches American literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She has published books and several articles in her field and served as an officer in a number of scholarly societies. She joined WSU in 2004, having previously been on faculty at Gonzaga University. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Kansas.
Humanities Fellows
Campbell is one of three Humanities Fellows for 2016-17, the third set in three years to be selected by the HPG from submitted proposals. Additional fellows this academic year are Joseph Campbell and Patricia Glazebrook.
Each fellow receives a $12,000 one-year grant funded by the College of Arts and Sciences. Humanities fellow designations and grants are intended to promote further research into recipients’ areas of expertise, and to encourage their pursuit of greater external funding for humanities research. Each delivers a lecture related to their grant research.
Honors College support
The Honors College traditionally co-hosts at least one lecture by humanities fellows each year. Honors students are encouraged to attend the presentations as a way to benefit from experts in a variety of fields as well as to challenge them to think critically about research conducted by those experts, said Honors Dean M. Grant Norton.
