BA '71
The City College of New York was a college that had that tremendous prestige. It was one of the best colleges in the United States for pretty much anything. The Department of English had such a variety of fabulous professors, so I took the English undergraduate courses. I was able to saturate my thirst for reading because I had so many outstanding scholars. Edgar Johnson was probably the only individual that ever taught with only a bachelor's. He felt that if a person was fully-versed, had a bachelor's, and knew their material, there was no need to try to impress and be pedantic with a doctorate. He researched and completed the first of the great biographies of Charles Dickens. He read about Dickens' life. He spent a lot of time in England, did the research, and wrote two massive volumes. He completed that during 1971, when I was a student. It was called, 'Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph.' I would say that Edgar Johnson influenced me because he was a scholar who taught with a bachelor's. He told us that he would never, in no condition, pursue a degree beyond a bachelor's. He said that not because he wanted to discourage us from getting our doctorate. His level of academic commitment was very influential to me. CCNY was a first-rate school. It had such strong professional and pedagogical scholars in the different aspects of literature. After my bachelor's in 1971, I went on and finished the master's program.