MSSC English Department Faculty

Department of English & Philosophy

Dr. William A. Kumbier

E-mail: kumbier-w@mssu.edu

Associate Professor, English 1989
Bachelor’s (B.A.), Michigan State University
Doctorate (Ph.D), State University of New York at Buffalo
Area of Concentration and/or Interests: Comparative Literature, World Literature, Music and Literature, Film, Critical Theory, Poetry and Poetry Writing, Shakespeare.
Professional Responsibilities Within the Department or Field: World Literature Committee, Live Poets Society
Hobbies: Listening to and performing music; Tai Chi; visiting larger cities (New York, Chicago)
Recent Publication: Evening Voices. An anthology of poetry read at the Frost Place, Franconia, NH, 1995 (desktop publcation). Afterimages: A Festschrift in honor of Irving Massey. Co-edited with Ann Colley. Toronto: Shuffaloff Press, 1996. Collection of critical essays and poetry by students, colleagues and friends of Irving Massey. Various articles on music and literature, published in Studies in Romanticism and elsewhere.
A Favorite Quotation: "...It is a delicious thing to write, whether well or badly--to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating." --Gustave Flaubert, in a letter to Louise Colet, 1853

About the Courses I Frequently Teach: In my Freshman Composition Courses, especially 101, I’m committed to helping students discover that, whether or not they think of themselves as "writers", they can write and that in fact there are crucial ideas, observations, fellings, experiences and opinions that they alone can express through writing. In English 102, I encourage a steady but rigorous, step-by-step approach to writing from sources and composing short research papers, and stubbournly insist that students develop research topics of particular interest to them. In both 101 and 102, individual conferences and peer editing--reading and commenting on each other’s writing--play a major role.

In my literature courses, I actively engage comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to literature. That is, I’m excited to learn what literature arising from one language and culture might have in common with that arising from another, sometimes very distant, language and culture, and I want to explore the interrelations of literature and other modes of expression, especially art and music. These interests (obsessions!) are reflected in all the world and comparative literature courses I teach at Missouri Southern. I’m also very interested in the problem and process of "translation," of bringing literary works from one culture into another.

Finally, I’m pleased to be offering English 160, Introduction to Film Study, in the Fall of 1997, and provide here the following description of that course: The course is designed for those who want to enhance their awareness of film and its influence on our lives. We will focus on the elements of film--acting, directing, cinematography, editing and sound. We will be viewing a wide range of films, past and contemporary, American and foreign, by film-makers such as Hitchcock, Truffaut, Fellini, Kurosawa, Penn, Lucas, Campion and Welles. Most of the films will be viewed in video format, though there will be some opportunities to view full-length, feature films. Participants in the course will write a combination of film reviews and short analytical papers.

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