Charles Caramello speaks about his study Henry James, Gertrude Stein, and the Biographical Act. Caramello describes both as authors seeking to locate their personal and literary identities in the contexts of the history, geography, and society of their times.
In the second segment [16:00], Sally Humble and Patricia Meyer Spacks summarize “Concepts of Self,” an institute for high school teachers of literature convened at the National Humanities Center in the summer of 1985. How do secondary school teachers approach autobiography? How might an examination of the literary expression of self enable high school students today to prepare for higher education and for productive scholarship?
At the time of these interviews, Caramello, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1984-85), was professor of English at the University of Maryland.
Humble was a teacher of English at Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Spacks, a Fellow at the Center (1982-83, 1988-89) and a trustee of the Center, was professor of English at Yale University.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
