“I enjoy introducing students to the founding literary documents of this nation,” says Professor of English Bruce Weiner.  

His passion for early American literature stems from the historical accuracy it provides of culture and thought. “American writing from the 18th and 19th centuries memorializes how people felt while the nation was forming,” he says.

Weiner has immersed himself in French and British culture by directing and teaching for the London and France Semester Programs.  “You really start to enter that culture,” he says, “especially in France, since it’s a different language.  It confirmed the value of study abroad for me when I had to teach class in French.” 

He is a member of both the English and Outdoor Studies departments and often teaches cross-listed courses such as ‘American Literature and the Environment.’

Though his research focuses on 19th century authors like Mark Twain and Washington Irving, Weiner says his favorite writer is Henry David Thoreau.  “It has to do with Thoreau’s ability to express himself in novel and interesting ways,” he explains.

He examines themes in the work of authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe in hopes of better understanding the writing.  “I have a love/hate relationship with Poe,” he says, and describes Hawthorne as “extremely problematic.” The value of literary criticism, he explains, is that it helps students develop the ability to approach ideas from multiple points of view.

Weiner has published many analytical essays on Poe and written introductions to Wordsworth editions of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Irving’s The Sketchbook. 

--Annalise Grueter ’12