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Justus, Perloff To Share 2004
Bowling Green, Ky. - Authors James H. Justus and Marjorie Perloff will share the 2004 Robert Penn Warren-Cleanth Brooks Award for Outstanding Literary Criticism from the Center for Robert Penn Warren Studies at Western Kentucky University.
Justus, who held a distinguished professor chair in English at Indiana University before his retirement, was chosen for "Fetching the Old Southwest," published by the University of Missouri Press. He is a renowned scholar in American literature with a particular interest in Robert Penn Warren studies. His book "The Achievement of Robert Penn Warren" won the Jules F. Landry Award in 1981. Perloff, chosen for authoring "Differentials" (University of Alabama Press), was the Sadie Dernham Patek Professor of Humanities at Stanford University before her retirement. She is a scholar in residence at the University of Southern California and will be the president of the Modern Language Association in 2006. "The jury was equally impressed by both of these books and struck by their complementary qualities, especially as they reflect Warren's creative/pedagogical philosophies and ambivalences," said Victor Strandberg, chair of the selection committee. "Taken together, Justus' examination of the lowbrow texts of the old Southwest along with Perloff's close readings of turn-of-the-21st-century avant-gardism evoke Warren's comprehensive interest in both high and popular culture, both contemporary and traditional American writing, and both textual and cultural studies," Strandberg said. "In the spirit of Warren's own essay 'Democracy and Poetry,' Justus' book displays the exuberant, democratic impulse of Southwest humor, while Perloff's book illustrates the complex and uniquely personal, if not private, appeal of poetry." The awards will be presented April 24 during a celebration of 100th anniversary of Warren's birth. "We are particularly pleased to present the Warren-Brooks Award to these two gifted authors during the Warren Centennial Celebration," said Mary Ellen Miller, coordinator of the Robert Penn Warren Center and professor of English at Western Kentucky University. Miller said the presentation, which includes a cash award, will be made before an early afternoon poetry reading by Warren's daughter, Rosanna, in Western's Mass Media and Technology Hall. "This is one of a series of activities that will honor Kentucky's most renowned literary son on the centennial of his birth," Miller said. The activities will be April 21-24. The Warren/Brooks Award was established in 1995 and is made possible by an endowment from the late Eleanor Clark Warren, the Warren Estate and Western Kentucky University. The award is given annually to recognize an outstanding work of literary criticism that exemplifies in spirit, scope and integrity the kind of innovative critical interpretation of literature offered by Warren and Brooks, his frequent collaborator.
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