Joel Porte
Encyclopedia
Joel Miles Porte was an American
literary scholar
, who was an internationally renowned authority on the life and work of Ralph Waldo Emerson
.
to "impecunious and unpedigreed" second-generation Russian Jewish immigrants and was raised there with his two brothers. Intellectually curious from an early age, he mastered Morse code
and obtained, at the age of fourteen, a licence to operate the radio station W2YIR. Attending the selective public Brooklyn Technical High School
, Porte excelled not only in English
but also in the science of industrial process
es, mechanical drawing
, and printing
technology. Porte enrolled at Cooper Union
(1951-52) after graduating from high school and intended to pursue an engineering
career, but left owing to lack of interest and of perceived ability. A paragraph from Mark Van Doren
's A Liberal Education (1943) compelled him to switch to literary studies, first at night school at Brooklyn College
(1952-53) and subsequently at the City College of New York
. In 1957, he received his A.B.
magna cum laude
in English and Classics
from City College, and won two Claflin medals for excellence in Greek
and the Ward Prize in English Composition, besides being elected to Phi Beta Kappa
.
Admitted to Harvard
for graduate studies, Porte studied with Perry Miller, earning and his Ph.D.
in 1962 and receiving the Bowdoin Prize
for an essay on Emerson. Seven years later, at the age of 36, Porte would become one of the youngest persons to reach the rank of full professor in the history of the Harvard English department. Awarded a Rockefeller Scholarship
to Bellagio
, Italy
(1979), and a Guggenheim Fellowship
(1981-82), Porte's career took him throughout the world as a visiting scholar and lecturer, and also led him to scholarly consultancies with publishers, universities, professional associations, and media groups, and to the editorial boards of leading academic journals. Even though he now moved in the privileged milieu of Ivy League
academia, he still remembered the ethnic and economic marginality he experienced in his youth, which disposed him to extend his generosity to others who "lacked 'natural' entitlement."
In 1987, he resigned as Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature and Chair of the Harvard English Department to become the Frederick J. Whiton Professor of American Literature at Cornell
. Two years later, Porte was appointed Cornell's Director of American Studies and Ernest I. White Professor of American Studies
and Humane Letters. Porte retired from the university in 2004 with the title Emeritus
. In recognition of his lifetime contribution to Emerson scholarship, the national Emerson Society granted him the Distinguished Achievement Award in 2006. Porte died in Ithaca, New York
in June, the same year, from esophageal cancer
. He was survived by his second wife Helene Sophrin Porte and his only child, Susanna Maria Porte, from his first marriage to Ilana d'Ancona, which had ended in divorce.
, 1979; rev. ed., Columbia
, 1988), a study of Emerson; In Respect to Egotism: Studies in American Romantic Writing (Cambridge
, 1991), and Consciousness and Culture: Emerson and Thoreau
Reviewed (Yale
, 2004).
Porte's approach to Emerson was distinctive, and it remains fresh despite the passage of time. Porte brought a luminous intelligence to the often-overlooked specifics of Emerson's language, tracing vibrant images and motifs through his essays and demonstrating the imaginative power not of Emerson's sometimes hazy concepts, but of what Emerson called a "living, leaping Logos." Part of the problem, Porte noted, was the reverential emphasis usually placed on Emerson's character, which could obscure actual attention to his work. In his influential 1973 essay "The Problem of Emerson" Porte noted that despite the triumph of New Critical methods, Emerson's work "has manifestly not been accorded that careful scrutiny of his work as writing which Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau, Dickinson, Whitman, [and other writers of the American Renaissance]...have received in superabundance." Porte set out to remedy the oversight. Finely attuned to the intricate ebb and flow of Emerson's writing, Porte's criticism revealed Emerson as a writer of stunning depth, power, and complexity. In Representative Man (1979) Porte brought this approach to its culmination, placing Emerson's imagination in fresh cultural and psychological contexts; the book was widely recognized as an enduring achievement.
Works edited by Porte included Emerson in His Journals (Belknap
, 1982), which presented for the first time in generations a well-edited selection from that sprawling masterwork; the Library of America
Emerson (1983); the Cambridge New Essays volume (1990) on Henry James
' The Portrait of a Lady
; the Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1999); and Emerson's Prose and Poetry: a Norton Critical Edition (2001). The last two of these were co-edited with Saundra Morris, a former student of his from Cornell who now teaches at Bucknell
. Porte's critical editions of Emerson's works have been staples of college reading lists in the United States, but his influence spread much farther afield. In 2002, the French Ministry of Education
decided to prescribe the Norton for the Agrégation
exam required of prospective college teachers.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
literary scholar
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
, who was an internationally renowned authority on the life and work of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
.
Biography
Porte was born in Brooklyn, New YorkBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
to "impecunious and unpedigreed" second-generation Russian Jewish immigrants and was raised there with his two brothers. Intellectually curious from an early age, he mastered Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
and obtained, at the age of fourteen, a licence to operate the radio station W2YIR. Attending the selective public Brooklyn Technical High School
Brooklyn Technical High School
Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech or just Tech, and also administratively as High School 430, is a New York City public high school that specializes in engineering, math and science and is the largest specialized high school for science, technology, engineering, and...
, Porte excelled not only in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
but also in the science of industrial process
Industrial process
Industrial processes are procedures involving chemical or mechanical steps to aid in the manufacture of an item or items, usually carried out on a very large scale. Industrial processes are the key components of heavy industry....
es, mechanical drawing
Technical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
, and printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
technology. Porte enrolled at Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
(1951-52) after graduating from high school and intended to pursue an engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
career, but left owing to lack of interest and of perceived ability. A paragraph from Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation...
's A Liberal Education (1943) compelled him to switch to literary studies, first at night school at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
(1952-53) and subsequently at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
. In 1957, he received his A.B.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
magna cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
in English and Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
from City College, and won two Claflin medals for excellence in Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
and the Ward Prize in English Composition, besides being elected to Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
.
Admitted to Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
for graduate studies, Porte studied with Perry Miller, earning and his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in 1962 and receiving the Bowdoin Prize
Bowdoin prize
The Bowdoin Prize is a prestigious award given annually to Harvard University undergraduate and graduate students. It is considered among the highest academic commendations the University can bestow upon a student...
for an essay on Emerson. Seven years later, at the age of 36, Porte would become one of the youngest persons to reach the rank of full professor in the history of the Harvard English department. Awarded a Rockefeller Scholarship
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
to Bellagio
Bellagio
Bellagio is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located on Lake Como. It has long been famous for its setting at the intersection of the three branches of the Y-shaped lake, which is also known as Lario....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(1979), and a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
(1981-82), Porte's career took him throughout the world as a visiting scholar and lecturer, and also led him to scholarly consultancies with publishers, universities, professional associations, and media groups, and to the editorial boards of leading academic journals. Even though he now moved in the privileged milieu of Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
academia, he still remembered the ethnic and economic marginality he experienced in his youth, which disposed him to extend his generosity to others who "lacked 'natural' entitlement."
In 1987, he resigned as Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature and Chair of the Harvard English Department to become the Frederick J. Whiton Professor of American Literature at Cornell
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. Two years later, Porte was appointed Cornell's Director of American Studies and Ernest I. White Professor of American Studies
American studies
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It traditionally incorporates the study of history, literature, and critical theory, but also includes fields as diverse as law, art, the media, film, religious studies, urban...
and Humane Letters. Porte retired from the university in 2004 with the title Emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
. In recognition of his lifetime contribution to Emerson scholarship, the national Emerson Society granted him the Distinguished Achievement Award in 2006. Porte died in Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
in June, the same year, from esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
. He was survived by his second wife Helene Sophrin Porte and his only child, Susanna Maria Porte, from his first marriage to Ilana d'Ancona, which had ended in divorce.
Contributions to literary scholarship
Porte was prolific and original in his contributions to the study of nineteenth-century American literature. He published 12 books, the most highly admired of which were Representative Man (OxfordOxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1979; rev. ed., Columbia
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
, 1988), a study of Emerson; In Respect to Egotism: Studies in American Romantic Writing (Cambridge
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1991), and Consciousness and Culture: Emerson and Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
Reviewed (Yale
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
, 2004).
Porte's approach to Emerson was distinctive, and it remains fresh despite the passage of time. Porte brought a luminous intelligence to the often-overlooked specifics of Emerson's language, tracing vibrant images and motifs through his essays and demonstrating the imaginative power not of Emerson's sometimes hazy concepts, but of what Emerson called a "living, leaping Logos." Part of the problem, Porte noted, was the reverential emphasis usually placed on Emerson's character, which could obscure actual attention to his work. In his influential 1973 essay "The Problem of Emerson" Porte noted that despite the triumph of New Critical methods, Emerson's work "has manifestly not been accorded that careful scrutiny of his work as writing which Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau, Dickinson, Whitman, [and other writers of the American Renaissance]...have received in superabundance." Porte set out to remedy the oversight. Finely attuned to the intricate ebb and flow of Emerson's writing, Porte's criticism revealed Emerson as a writer of stunning depth, power, and complexity. In Representative Man (1979) Porte brought this approach to its culmination, placing Emerson's imagination in fresh cultural and psychological contexts; the book was widely recognized as an enduring achievement.
Works edited by Porte included Emerson in His Journals (Belknap
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
, 1982), which presented for the first time in generations a well-edited selection from that sprawling masterwork; the Library of America
Library of America
The Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
Emerson (1983); the Cambridge New Essays volume (1990) on Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
' The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880–81 and then as a book in 1881...
; the Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1999); and Emerson's Prose and Poetry: a Norton Critical Edition (2001). The last two of these were co-edited with Saundra Morris, a former student of his from Cornell who now teaches at Bucknell
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...
. Porte's critical editions of Emerson's works have been staples of college reading lists in the United States, but his influence spread much farther afield. In 2002, the French Ministry of Education
Minister of National Education (France)
The Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Sport , or simply "Minister of National Education," as the title has changed no small number of times in the course of the Fifth Republic) is the French government cabinet member charged with running France's public educational system and with the...
decided to prescribe the Norton for the Agrégation
Agrégation
In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...
exam required of prospective college teachers.