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Re: Phyllis Roth
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From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] on behalf of Anthony Stadlen [STADLEN@AOL.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 11:50 AM
Phyllis Roth became involved in faculty governance and administrative concerns from the start of her teaching career at Skidmore as a specialist in critical theory. In subsequent years, as chair of the English department and later as dean of the faculty, she lavished her prodigious energy, intelligence, and imagination with increasing vigor on promoting the prestige of the college, launching and overseeing initiatives in collaborative research and the development of a teaching museum on campus, to mention only two examples; and even while acutely ill she never ceased nurturing the careers of former students and longtime friendships, including ours. In short, though Phyllis managed to complete and publish a book on Bram Stoker, her commitment to Skidmore left her little time to pursue all her personal enthusiasms.
Yet her love of Nabokov never waned. She kept abreast of postings on the N-list, on occasion contributing one of her own, and after returning fulltime to the classroom she was ingenious in finding ways to justify a place in her syllabi for Lolita. And no matter what, even during the worst of times at the college, it was our habit to remind each other that academic bliss was having a fellow Nabokovian in the next office.
My thanks to Brian Boyd for his query. Ditto for comments from Susan Sweeney, Anthony Stadlen, Zoran Kuzmanovitch, and Don Johnson. Phyllis would have greatly appreciated your interest and recollections.
Ralph A. Ciancio
Professor Emeritus of English
Skidmore College, North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Email: rciancio@retired.skidmore.edu
Telephone: 518/584-9264
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Phyllis Roth
Brian Boyd wonders "why Phyllis Roth did not continue to contribute to Nabokov scholarship". But her all-day participation in my Inner Circle Seminar on Nabokov's "Signs and Symbols" in London on 11 May 2008 was her initiative! This was the only time I have ever issued a "call for papers", rather than inviting specific speakers, and she was the first to respond -- with enthusiasm. She was indispensable to the seminar, although as far as I know she did not produce a new published paper as a result. I was extremely grateful to her for this contribution to scholarship.
Anthony Stadlen
Anthony Stadlen
"Oakleigh"
2A Alexandra Avenue
GB - London N22 7XE
Tel.: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857
Email: stadlen@aol.com
Founder (in 1996) and convenor of the Inner Circle Seminars: an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy
See "Existential Psychotherapy & Inner Circle Seminars" at http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/ for programme of future Inner Circle Seminars and complete archive of past seminars
In a message dated 03/04/2012 15:27:12 GMT Daylight Time, b.boyd@AUCKLAND.AC.NZ writes:
Dear All,
I too am sorry to hear of Phyllis Roth's death. She was a lively and engaging presence at the 1983 Cornell Nabokov conference, when as I recall she was already compiling her fine edited volume, Critical Essays on Vladimir Nabokov (1984), introduced by her comprehensive overview of early Anglophone academic scholarship on Nabokov. Alas, my memories of her have leached a great deal of detail since then, but I did wonder from time to time why she did not continue to contribute to Nabokov scholarship. Does anyone know?
Brian Boyd
On 3/04/2012, at 9:17 AM, NABOKV-L wrote:
Dear List,
I am very sorry to hear of Phyllis Roth's death. Phyllis chaired the panel at which I presented my first paper on Nabokov at the annual MLA conference--a study of his doubles in terms of his relationship with his brother Sergey, entitled "The Brothers Nabokov: Repetition and Revision"--in December 1986. I was a shy and anxious graduate student, but Phyllis took me under her wing, encouraging my interest in VN's doubles (which had been the subject of her dissertation) and inviting me to become an active member of the Vladimir Nabokov Society. I think her essay "The Man Behind the Mystification," in particular, remains one of the most important essays written on Nabokov.
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
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