Department of English Associate Professor Natalie Gerber co-edited “Helen Vendler’s Stevens,” a special issue of The Wallace Stevens Journal that was published to honor Dr. Vendler upon her retirement.
Dr. Gerber co-edited the special issue with Associate Editor Lisa Goldfarb and Editor Bart Eeckhout. In addition to a co-authored editors' introduction, Gerber also contributed an essay, "Coming of Age as a Scholar through Helen Vendler's Stevens."
Vendler has led a successful career, most recently teaching English and literature at Harvard University as the first female A. Kingsley Porter University Professor. She received her Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Harvard after completing an undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Emmanuel College. In addition to teaching at several esteemed American universities, Vendler is a member of many prestigious academic societies and has received a wide array of honors for her work, including 25 honorary doctoral degrees. Additionally, she has published many books on literary greats such as William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Wallace Stevens.
Stevens was an American Modernist poet who, like Vendler, received his education at Harvard. His poetic work has influenced and inspired Vendler throughout her literary career, lending to the incorporation of Stevens’ work in several of her lectures and publications.
The special edition of The Wallace Stevens Journal gathers perspective of 15 international scholars and poets who have been influenced by Vendler’s work and her take on Stevens’ poetry.
