Seth Lerer
Encyclopedia
Professor Seth Lerer is Dean of Arts and Humanities and Distinguished Professor of Literature at the University of California at San Diego. He had previously held the Avalon Foundation Professorship in Humanities at Stanford University
. Lerer specializes in historical analyses of the English language
, in addition to critical analyses of the works of several authors, including in particular Geoffrey Chaucer
. Lerer won the 2010 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism
and the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award
in Criticism for Children’s Literature: A Readers’ History from Aesop to Harry Potter.
, New York City
, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Wesleyan University
in 1976. He gained a second Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oxford
in 1978. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy
degree by the University of Chicago
in 1981. He was granted a Master of Arts degree by Oxford in 1986. He taught at Princeton University from 1981 to 1990 and at Stanford from 1991-2008. In 2009, he joined the faculty of UC-San Diego as Dean of Arts and Humanities and Distinguished Professor of Literature.
He has received grants and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
, the National Endowment for the Humanities
, and the Huntington Library. In 1996 he was the Hurst Visiting Professor at Washington University in St. Louis
, and in 2002 he was the Helen Cam Fellow in Medieval Studies at Cambridge University.
Professor Lerer's research interests include Medieval Studies
, Renaissance
studies, comparative philology
, history of scholarship
and children's literature
. He has also published works on the history of reading
and the culture of noble court
s.
Professor Lerer is widely recognised for his capacity as a teacher and his facility in Old and Middle English pronunciation and public reading, including in particular the different dialetic forms of Middle English
. Several lecture series delivered by Professor Lerer have been made available commercially.
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. Lerer specializes in historical analyses of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, in addition to critical analyses of the works of several authors, including in particular Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
. Lerer won the 2010 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism
Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism
The Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism is awarded for literary criticism by the University of Iowa on behalf of the Truman Capote Estate. The value of the award is $30,000 , and is said to be the largest annual cash prize for literary criticism in the English language...
and the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
in Criticism for Children’s Literature: A Readers’ History from Aesop to Harry Potter.
History
He was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
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...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts
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...
degree from Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
in 1976. He gained a second Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1978. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy
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...
degree by the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1981. He was granted a Master of Arts degree by Oxford in 1986. He taught at Princeton University from 1981 to 1990 and at Stanford from 1991-2008. In 2009, he joined the faculty of UC-San Diego as Dean of Arts and Humanities and Distinguished Professor of Literature.
He has received grants and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
, the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
, and the Huntington Library. In 1996 he was the Hurst Visiting Professor at Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
, and in 2002 he was the Helen Cam Fellow in Medieval Studies at Cambridge University.
Professor Lerer's research interests include Medieval Studies
Medievalism
Medievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture.Since the 18th century, a...
, Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
studies, comparative philology
Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
, history of scholarship
Scholarly method
Scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public.-Methods:...
and children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
. He has also published works on the history of reading
Reading (process)
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or deriving meaning . It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas...
and the culture of noble court
Noble court
The court of a monarch, or at some periods an important nobleman, is a term for the extended household and all those who regularly attended on the ruler or central figure...
s.
Professor Lerer is widely recognised for his capacity as a teacher and his facility in Old and Middle English pronunciation and public reading, including in particular the different dialetic forms of Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
. Several lecture series delivered by Professor Lerer have been made available commercially.
Published works
- Boethius and Dialogue (Princeton, 1985).
- Literacy and Power in Anglo-Saxon Literature (Nebraska, 1991).
- Chaucer and His Readers (Princeton, 1993), awarded the Beatrice White Prize of the English Association of Great Britain.
- Courtly Letters in the Age of Henry VIII (Cambridge, 1997).
- Error and the Academic Self: The Scholarly Imagination, Medieval to Modern (Columbia, 2002), awarded the Harry Levin Prize of the American Comparative Literature Association.
- Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language (Columbia, 2007).
- Children's Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter (Chicago, 2008), awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism and the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism.
- Grahame, K.Kenneth GrahameKenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films....
, The Wind in the WillowsThe Wind in the WillowsThe Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
: An Annotated Edition, edited by Seth Lerer. Belknap Press / Harvard University Press (2009), ISBN 978-0674034471.