THOREAU SCHOLAR                                                                                                                                     
TO VISIT WCU NOV. 1-2

A distinguished scholar who has edited a bookshelf of letters by Margaret Fuller and Henry David Thoreau will visit Western Carolina University for a lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1. 

Robert N. Hudspeth, distinguished research professor of English at Claremont Graduate School and professor emeritus at the University of Redlands in California, edited the letters of Fuller, an early feminist, and is working on a Thoreau letters edition. “In their letters, and those of their friend Ralph Waldo Emerson and others, the lively enthusiasms of those idealistic times come to life as they cajole, comfort and court each other,” said Elizabeth Addison, head of the WCU English department.

In Hudspeth's talk, titled “Dear Friend,” he explores the unique role of letters in a tight-knit community full of eccentric and forward-thinking individuals, Addison said. “The writers of Concord, Mass., are famous for such works as ‘Walden' and ‘Self-Reliance,' but the volumes of their letters that have been found and published would fill several library shelves,” she said.

The free lecture will take place in the Mountain Heritage Center auditorium. It is sponsored by WCU's English department and the Thoreau Society. Refreshments will be served.

The public also is welcome to hear Hudspeth speak with English faculty and students in Room 304 of Coulter Building at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 2. His topic will be “Thoreau, Annie Dillard, and Nature Writing.” 

Hudspeth is a graduate of Syracuse University and the recipient of many National Endowment for the Humanities grants for his scholarly work. This visit will be his first to North Carolina.

The Mountain Heritage Center is located on the ground floor of the H.F. Robinson Administration Building at the campus entrance.  For more information, contact the English department at (828) 227-7264.