Professor of English Russ Castronovo to Speak at The College of Wooster

Intersections of Wiki Leaks, Propaganda, and the Writings of Benjamin Franklin to be addressed at Nov. 3 lecture

WOOSTER, Ohio — Russ Castronovo, the Dorothy Draheim Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will discuss some of his recent work on propaganda and literature when he visits The College of Wooster on Thursday, Nov. 3. Castronovo’s presentation, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in Room 009 of Severance Hall (943 College Mall).

A specialist in the study of American literature, African American literature, American Studies, cultural theory, and popular culture, Castonovo’s primary area of interest is the role of literature in forming critical citizenship. “In my classes, this interest entails a commitment to analytic exchange and dialogue, collective interpretation, and interdisciplinary pursuits of knowledge,” he says on his website. “My classes seek to implement this approach by covering such topics as modern critical theory, popular culture, 19th- and 20th-century American literature, propaganda, and the political novel.”

Castronovo has written three books, the most recent of which is Beautiful Democracy: Aesthetics and Anarchy in a Global Era (2007), which explores the crossroads of beauty and violence through a review of university lectures and course materials on aesthetics from the last century. He also wrote Necro Citizenship: Death, Eroticism, and the Public Sphere in the Nineteenth-Century United States (2001), which examines the connection between citizenship and death in the U.S. during the 19th century. His first book, Fathering the Nation: American Genealogies of Slavery and Freedom (1995), looks at how the nation’s history is remembered in multifaceted ways in a wide range of mid-nineteenth-century artifacts, including slave autobiography, classic American fiction, monumental architecture, myths of the Revolution, proslavery writing, and landscape painting. Castronovo is also editor of two forthcoming collections, The Oxford Handbook of 19th-Century American Literature and The Oxford Handbook of Propaganda.

Castronovo’s appearance is sponsored by the Hilty Fund and the Department of English. Additional information is available by phone (330-263-2575) or e-mail.