Department of English
207 Lind Hall
207 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Phone: 612-625-3363

College of Liberal Arts Voices from the Gaps
Lind Hall

Lind Hall

Art Geffen

Professor Emeritus

geffe001@umn.edu

Central Interests

  • American literature (especially fiction)
  • Drama (especially modern)
  • American humor

Awards

  • CLA Distinguished Teacher Award, 1984
  • University of Minnesota Summer Research Grant, 1983
  • University of Minnesota Single Quarter Leave, Spring 1975
  • University of Minnesota Summer Research Grant, 1972

Background

  • Education

    University of Chicago, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
  • Job history

    Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, 1975-
    Visiting Professor, University of Lund, Sweden, 1995
    Visiting Lecturer, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1977-78
    Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, 1968-75
    Instructor, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, 1967-68
    Instructor, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1964-67

  • Other Activities
    Associate Chair, English Department, 1988-1995
    Director, Summer Seminar in American Studies for Swedish Teachers, 1986 and 1988
    Director of Graduate Studies, American Studies Program, 1982-1984
    Director of Undergraduate Studies, 1975-1977

Publications

  • Articles

    Review (with Philip Furia) of Lewis Hyde's The Gift. Great River Review v:2 (1984): 243-249.

    "Silence and Denial: Walt Whitman and the Brooklyn Bridge." Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 1 (1984): 1-11.

    Review of Walt Whitman: The Measure of His Song. Great River Review 4 (1983): 259-66.

    "Sacred Time, Profane Time, and Confederate Time in The Sound and the Fury." Studies in American Fiction 2 (1974): 174-97. Reprinted in Critical Essays on William Faulkner: The Compson Family. Ed. Arthur F. Kinney. Boston: Hall, 1982. 231-51.

    "Walt Whitman and Jules Michelet--One More Time." American Literature 45 (1973): 107-214.

Teaching

  • Combined graduate and undergraduate courses

    EngW 5310: Reading as Writers
    EngL 5431: Early American Poetry
    EngL 5452: Twentieth-Century American Novel
    EngL 5471: American Drama

  • Courses for undergraduate majors

    EngL 3008: Techniques of Literary Study
    EngL 3241: Shakespeare
    EngL 3455: The American Short Story

  • General education courses

    EngL 1591: Literature of American Minorities