Background
Woodring, Carl was born on August 29, 1919 in Terrell, Texas, United States. Son of Felix Jessie and Naomi (Cole) Woodring.
( Delving into the hotly debated issues surrounding the r...)
Delving into the hotly debated issues surrounding the relevance of the humanities in today's society, this spirited and engaging book analyzes the history and current status of literary study in America. Carl Woodring--who played a central part in organizing Columbia University's Society of Fellows in the Humanities, which oversees the core program devoted to monumental works of civilizations and art--casts an astute eye on the culture wars, chastising both the radicals who have jettisoned humanism and the conservatives who reject any challenge to prevailing tastes. After examining the history of cultural, political, and commercial influences on literary study in North America from the early 1800s to the late 1990s, Woodring turns to the present state and future course of the university itself, discussing the larger institutional context of the contemporary humanities. From the role of technology in classrooms and libraries to needed changes in the tenure system, from the effect of the current emphasis on research and publication to helpful advice for young teachers, Literature: An Embattled Profession offers critical insights into ways to rescue the profession of literary study from insularity and dissension. Finally, Woodring delivers a devastating analysis of the bloated administrations that act as Ph.D. factories and show no regard for the future of the scholars they produce.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0231115229/?tag=2022091-20
( The nineteenth century began with reverence for nature...)
The nineteenth century began with reverence for nature and ended with the apotheosis of art. In this wide-ranging excursion through the literature, visual arts, and natural sciences of the era from Wordsworth to Wilde, Carl Woodring traces shifting ideas and attitudes concerning nature, art, and the relations between the two. The veneration of nature as aesthetic model and ethical norm was gradually eroded not least by the study of biology, which revealed organic nature to be wasteful and murderous. Darwin's work verified the growing perception of nature as amoral by stressing the role of chance in natural selection, a further blow to trust in natural law. Once nature was not worth imitating, art by the century's close could be an end to itself, free of responsibility to the natural. The author examines individual works by Romantic and Victorian poets; narrative prose from James Hogg and Mary Shelley to Conrad, James, and Stevenson; painters from Wilkie through the Pre-Raphaelites to Whistler--all within such general contexts as the picturesque, the sublime, natural theology, romantic irony, romantic Hellenism, realism, photography, aestheticism, arts and crafts, art nouveau, and decadence. Although Woodring focuses on events, movements, and creative minds in England, he also draws upon a range of seminal figures from the Continent and the United States: Alexander von Humboldt, Delacroix, Thomas Cole, and Hawthorne are prominent examples. Nature into Art will fascinate scholars and amateurs of movements in literature, art, science, and cultural history in the Western world after 1780.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674604652/?tag=2022091-20
Woodring, Carl was born on August 29, 1919 in Terrell, Texas, United States. Son of Felix Jessie and Naomi (Cole) Woodring.
Bachelor, Rice University, 1940. Master of Arts, Rice University, 1942. AM, Harvard University, 1947.
Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University, 1949.
Instructor English University Wisconsin, 1948-1951, assistant professor, 1951-1954, associate professor, 1954-1958, professor, 1958-1961, Columbia University, New York City, from 1961, chairman department English, 1968-1971, George Edward Woodberry professor literature, 1976-1988, George Edward Woodberry professor literature emeritus, from 1988, chairman, co-chairman Columbia Society Fellows in the Humanities, 1975-1978. English dissertation selection committee Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, 1962-1966. Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar, 1974-1975.
( Delving into the hotly debated issues surrounding the r...)
( The nineteenth century began with reverence for nature...)
(Book by Woodring, Carl)
With United States Naval Reserve, 1942-1945. Member Modern Language Association (member executive council 1965-1968), International Association University Professors of English, Keats-Shelley Association American (board directors, Distinguished Scholar award 1982), American Academy Arts and Sciences, Academy Literature Studies, Association Departments English (president 1971), Grolier Club.
Married Mary Frances Ellis, December 24, 1942 (deceased March 2, 2003).