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Eugene Goodheart (June 26, 1931 – April 9, 2020) was an American literary scholar. He was Edytha Macy Gross Professor of Humanities at Brandeis University from 1983 to 2001.[1]
Eugene Goodheart | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 26, 1931 Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Died | April 9, 2020 (aged 88) Watertown, Massachusetts, United States |
| Education | Columbia University (BA, PhD) University of Virginia (MA) |
| Occupation(s) | Literary critic, professor |
| Employer | Brandeis University |
| Known for | Literary criticism |
| Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship (1970) |
Goodheart was born on June 26, 1931, in Brooklyn.[2] He received his B.A. from Columbia College, M.A. from the University of Virginia, and Ph.D. from Columbia University in English and Comparative Literature in 1953.[1][3] At Columbia, Goodheart studied under Lionel Trilling.[1]
Goodheart served on the faculty of Bard College, University Chicago, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston University, where he was the chairman of the English department.[1]
He joined the Brandeis faculty in 1983 as Edytha Macy Gross Professor of Humanities and served as the chair of its English department.[1] He also directed the Brandeis Center for the Humanities.[2] He authored a number of books on literary theory and criticism as well as political and social commentary.[4][5] Among his students at Brandeis University was Chinese American writer Ha Jin.[6]
Goodheart received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1970 in literary criticism.[7] He was also a National Humanities Center fellow in 1987–1988.[8] He received an honorary doctorate from the City University of New York in 2014, for his “brilliant and provocative contributions to humanist criticism and scholarship.”[9]
Goodheart died on April 9, 2020, at his home in Watertown, Massachusetts.[2] He was a close friend of Saul Bellow, who also taught at Bard College.[10] According to biographer Zachary Leader, Bellow asked Goodheart on his deathbed, "Was I a man or was I a jerk?" To which Goodheart replied, "You were a good man."[11][12]
He was married to Wellesley College anthropologist Joan Bamberger until his death.[2][13]
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