Literary biographer Maynard Mack characterizes Alexander Pope’s writings as “inspired sanity”–clear, compassionate, and witty. Yet the name of Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet and essayist, is not a household word for most Americans today. Who was Alexander Pope? Why is his writing important in literary history and how did it come across to readers in the 1980s? Mack discusses those questions and reads short extracts of Pope’s humor, satire, and epitaphs.
At the time of this interview, Mack, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1984-85, 1986-87), was professor of English at Yale University.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
