NEWS RELEASE

11/6/01

John Sanford, News Service (650) 736-2151; e-mail: jsanford@stanford.edu

Eminent literary critic Sir Frank Kermode to speak at Stanford

Sir Frank Kermode, the venerable British literary critic whose easy prose style and undogmatic approach to literature have made him one of the eminent men of letters both here and in Britain, will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, at the Humanities Center. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

This year's Levinthal Distinguished Visitor, Kermode will give a lecture titled "Wholeness." The event also will feature the dedication of Levinthal Hall, named in honor of Humanities Center patrons Rhoda and Elliott Levinthal.

Kermode, who was knighted in 1991, has been a prominent figure in the world of literary criticism since the 1960s. He has been the Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English at University College London, Kind Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University and the Charles Elliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard. He has written extensively on Shakespeare. His most recent book, Pleasing Myself: From Beowulf to Philip Roth (2001), is a collection of essays that mainly appeared in The London Review of Books over the past decade.

His previous books include Shakespeare's Language, The Sense of an Ending and The Genesis of Secrecy. He also has written an autobiography, Not Entitled

-30-

By John Sanford