English Papers: A Teaching Life

Pritchard, critic, biographer (Randall Jarrell: A Literary Life), book reviewer and professor of English at Amherst, recalls his 30-plus years of teaching in this very densely written account of life in academia, about half of which is devoted to his own education. As a student at Amherst in 1949, where, he was told, ``conduct befitting a gentleman is expected at all times,'' Pritchard was exposed to the ``new curriculum'': a series of required courses conducted in all-male classes with a student-teacher ratio of 10:1. After graduate school, Pritchard abandoned his philosophy studies in favor of a career teaching English literature, and, in 1957, he accepted a faculty position at Amherst. He describes how his rarified world was changed by the social turmoil of the 1960s. Antiwar activism, feminism and new literary movements exploded on the campus. Amherst began admitting women and ethnic minorities, course offerings were modernized and English classes began discussing current events. Although Pritchard has accepted some changes as necessary, he is nostalgic for a traditional curriculum taught in a more insular atmosphere. (Oct.)