 Richard Johnson (1937-2006)
Education
B.A.Swarthmore College, 1959
Ph.D.Cornell University, 1965
Richard Johnson
taught at Mount Holyoke since 1965 and his special interests were
19th & 20th
century British literature, criticism and theory, and composition.
He authored books and articles
on modern poetry and, with Professor Carolyn Collette, on composition.
He was married to an Episcopal priest,
and they had four sons. Among his outside interests were choral
music, drawing, and his grandchildren.
During the last several decades there has been an enormous expansion
of literary study, moving in a number of different directions, and
adding
new approaches, new works, new genres, new literatures, a new interest
in theory, and new kinds of interdisciplinary work. Given all this
variety,
what constitutes a proper introduction to literary study? Is there
still a common vocabulary and a common set of assumptions about literature
that would constitute a proper introduction to the field, in the way
that physicists or economists or linguists can present introductions
to their field? Working with Professor Collette, Professor Richard
Johnson hoped to construct a conceptual guide that will serve this
purpose.
Publicat
ions
Man's Place: An Essay on Auden (1973)
Common Ground (with Carolyn Collette, 1990)
Finding Common Ground (with Carolyn Collette, 1997), 2nd
ed.
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