Citing Health, English Prof Buell Takes Leave

Cabot Professor of American Literature Lawrence Buell has taken a medical leave of absence and will not teach either of his two scheduled fall undergraduate courses, Literature and Arts A-64, “American Literature and the American Environment,” and Freshman Seminar 39p, “Practice of Autobiography.”

“‘Postponed’ would actually be a more accurate word than “cancelled,’” Buell wrote in an e-mail last night, adding that he will offer both courses next year.

“I had been looking forward with great enthusiasm to teaching both courses, and that enthusiasm remains as great as ever,” Buell wrote.

He added that he has “every expectation of recovering fully by the end of the term, if not before.” Buell wrote that he would still teach his planned spring semester courses, including English 90at, “The American Transcendentalists,” as well as a graduate seminar.

“To my extreme reluctance, let me add: This has been the first time that I’ve missed even a single class on account of sickness since my first year as an assistant professor more than 30 years ago,” Buell wrote.

Buell delivered the first lecture in his Core course on Tuesday morning. His freshman seminar also met for the first time that afternoon.

The chairman of the English department, James Engell ’73, announced at the second meeting of the Core class on Thursday morning that the course would not continue this semester.

The acting director of undergraduate studies in English, Gordon Teskey, wrote in an e-mail last night: “When someone’s classes have to be cancelled for medical reasons, we are reminded that the noble enterprise of humanistic studies does finally rely on the human. We are all looking forward to Professor Buell’s return to teaching.”

Buell, the former chairman of the English department, is the author of several highly-acclaimed texts including a May 2003 biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

His Core course drew 53 students in the fall of 2003, the last time it was offered.

Sarah K. Bourne ’08, a biology concentrator in Quincy House, had planned to take Buell’s Literature and Arts course this semester, both because she was attracted by the syllabus—which included books by Willa Cather, Adlo Leopold, and Henry David Thoreau—and because Buell is one of the highest-rated Core instructors in the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) guide.

“He seemed really interesting, and he was passionate about the subject matter,” Bourne said.

The head teaching fellow in Buell’s Core course, fourth-year English graduate student Jared W. Hickman, will take on TF duties in two other courses this semester, Assistant Professor of History Malinda Maynor’s History 1657, “Native America: The East,” and Harvard College Professor Robert J. Kiely’s English 13, “The English Bible.”

—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.