Mimi Reisel Gladstein
Encyclopedia
Mimi Reisel Gladstein is a professor of English and Theatre Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso
. Her specialties include authors such as Ayn Rand
and John Steinbeck
, as well as women's studies
, theatre arts and 18th-century British literature
.
and moved with her family to the United States
at an early age. She grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico
and El Paso, Texas
, and became a US citizen at the age of 19. She obtained a PhD in Contemporary American Literature from the University of New Mexico
. She is married and has three children.
She was a pioneer in the field of women's studies, teaching a class on "Women and Literature" in the early 1970s. In an attempt to provide students with an example of a successful female character in literature, she began assigning Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
for her class. This led her to write one of the earliest academic articles about Rand as a literary figure, "Ayn Rand and Feminism: An Unlikely Alliance," which was published in 1978. She later wrote or edited several other works about Rand, including The Ayn Rand Companion and Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. When Gladstein began work on The Ayn Rand Companion, she sent Rand a request for an interview. The reply was a letter from Rand's attorney threatening to sue Gladstein for violation of Rand's copyrights if she proceeded with the book, a response that Gladstein found "bizarre."
In 1986, Gladstein published The Indestructible Woman in Faulkner, Hemingway, and Steinbeck. Her work related to Steinbeck has won multiple awards. She received the John J. and Angeline Pruis Award for Steinbeck Teacher of the Decade (1978–1987), and in 1996 she received the Burkhardt Award for Outstanding Contributions to Steinbeck Studies.
In addition to her scholarly work, Gladstein has held a number of administrative positions at the University of Texas at El Paso. She was the first director of the Women's Studies Program, director of the Western Cultural Heritage Program, and executive director for the university's Diamond Jubilee Celebration. She was twice the chair of the English Department, and later chaired the Department of Theatre, Dance and Film. She also served as Associate Dean of Liberal Arts.
Gladstein has served as president of both the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association
and the South Central Society for Eighteenth Century Studies
.
Glastein has twice received grants from the Fulbright Program
. She was a Fulbright Professor in Caracas
, Venezuela
in 1990-91, and in 1995 she taught at the Complutense University of Madrid
as a Senior Fulbright Scholar.
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Texas System. Its campus is located on the bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. The school was founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy,...
. Her specialties include authors such as Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
and John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
, as well as women's studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
, theatre arts and 18th-century British literature
British literature
British Literature refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. By far the largest part of British literature is written in the English language, but there are bodies of written works in Latin, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Cornish, Manx, Jèrriais,...
.
Life and scholarship
Gladstein was born in NicaraguaNicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and moved with her family to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at an early age. She grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces, also known as "The City of the Crosses", is the county seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 97,618 in 2010 according to the 2010 Census, making it the second largest city in the state....
and El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, and became a US citizen at the age of 19. She obtained a PhD in Contemporary American Literature from the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
. She is married and has three children.
She was a pioneer in the field of women's studies, teaching a class on "Women and Literature" in the early 1970s. In an attempt to provide students with an example of a successful female character in literature, she began assigning Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. Rand's fourth and last novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing...
for her class. This led her to write one of the earliest academic articles about Rand as a literary figure, "Ayn Rand and Feminism: An Unlikely Alliance," which was published in 1978. She later wrote or edited several other works about Rand, including The Ayn Rand Companion and Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand. When Gladstein began work on The Ayn Rand Companion, she sent Rand a request for an interview. The reply was a letter from Rand's attorney threatening to sue Gladstein for violation of Rand's copyrights if she proceeded with the book, a response that Gladstein found "bizarre."
In 1986, Gladstein published The Indestructible Woman in Faulkner, Hemingway, and Steinbeck. Her work related to Steinbeck has won multiple awards. She received the John J. and Angeline Pruis Award for Steinbeck Teacher of the Decade (1978–1987), and in 1996 she received the Burkhardt Award for Outstanding Contributions to Steinbeck Studies.
In addition to her scholarly work, Gladstein has held a number of administrative positions at the University of Texas at El Paso. She was the first director of the Women's Studies Program, director of the Western Cultural Heritage Program, and executive director for the university's Diamond Jubilee Celebration. She was twice the chair of the English Department, and later chaired the Department of Theatre, Dance and Film. She also served as Associate Dean of Liberal Arts.
Gladstein has served as president of both the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association
Modern Language Association
The Modern Language Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature...
and the South Central Society for Eighteenth Century Studies
American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
The American Society for 18th-century Studies is an interdisciplinary group, established in 1969, dedicated to the advancement of scholarship in all aspects of the period from the later 17th through the early 19th centuries...
.
Awards and honors
In addition to the two awards for her work on Steinbeck, Gladstein also received the Burlington Northern Award for Teaching Excellence, and in 2003 the University of Texas at El Paso gave her the College of Liberal Arts' Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award. The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes won a 2009 Latino Book Award: 2nd place for Best Biography in English.Glastein has twice received grants from the Fulbright Program
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
. She was a Fulbright Professor in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
in 1990-91, and in 1995 she taught at the Complutense University of Madrid
Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid is a university in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of...
as a Senior Fulbright Scholar.
Selected bibliography
- "The Grapes of Wrath: Steinbeck and the Eternal Immigrant" in
- "Breakthroughs in Ayn Rand Literary Criticism" in
- "Ayn Rand's Cinematic Eye" in
External links
- Faculty page at University of Texas at El Paso, Department of English