Humanities Center toasts, roasts faculty editors, authors, musicians

BY JOHN SANFORD

At the Ninth Annual Celebration of Stanford Faculty Authors in the Humanities last week, Sharon Long, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, explained that she approaches a book the way she approaches a fine wine.

"You look at it before you even taste it, and you're aware of the vineyard and the grapes and the sun and the soil, and the harvest and the fermentation and everything that went into it," Long said. "And then you taste it, and it's all there together. And I think that books are like that. I love to see a book and hold it and look at the binding outside, inside and then finally to read it. You have this beautiful object, and at the same time you know everything that went into it -- the years, the reading, the thought, the writing and the revision."

Books and CDs created by Stanford faculty were on display at the Ninth Annual Celebration of Stanford Faculty Authors in the Humanities last week. Photo: L.A. Cicero

Forty-one books and nine compact discs showcasing the work of faculty as editors, writers, musicians, commentators and translators make up the 2001 vintage; it no doubt will be considered a good year.

The Stanford Humanities Center holds the celebration annually to toast faculty who have created or contributed to the creation of texts and recordings published during the past year. But a complementary roast has evolved into the most anticipated feature of the event.

"In fact, it is sometimes the case where authors become insulted if they're not insulted," said John Bender, the Anthony P. Meier Family Professor and Director of the Humanities Center and the Jean G. and Morris M. Doyle Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies.

Humanities Center Director John Bender and Associate Director Susan Dunn spoke at the Ninth Annual Celebration of Stanford Faculty Authors in the Humanities last week. Photo: L.A. Cicero

And so, without further ado, here are some of the celebration's special awards and statistics for 2001:

English Professor Kenneth Fields was named featherweight champion for his collection of poems titled August Delights, which reportedly did not even register on the scale (it was only a few ounces).

English Professor John Felstiner was named heavyweight champion for Paul Celan: Todesfuge/Deathfugue after barely beating out Albert Cohen, the William H. Bonsall Professor of Music, Emeritus, who edited Jean-Baptiste Lully's Ballet royal de Flore in Lully's Oeuvres complètes. Both books weighed about 4 pounds, but Felstiner edged out Cohen by "the weight of one CD," Bender explained.

Felstiner also took the award for shortest book: Paul Celan: Todesfuge/Deathfugue clocked in at 21 pages. This marked the first time the heaviest book also was the shortest book.

The award for longest title went to Amir Weiner, assistant professor of history, for his Making Sense of War: The Second World War and the Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution.

And music Professor Chris Chafe, who composed and performed on the CD Arcology, walked away with the award for shortest title.