Peter Scheckner

Professor of Literature

Educational background: B.A. Bard College; M.A. Middlebury College, The Bread Loaf School of English; Ph.D. Rutgers University in Literature

Year of Appointment at Ramapo: 1972

Areas of Specialization and Course Regularly Taught: My Ph.D. dissertation and book were on D. H. Lawrence. Courses taught regularly include: College English, Readings in the Humanities, Major Author course (Melville, D.H. Lawrence, Philip Roth, and Sinclair Lewis), various Senior Seminar courses (most recent: The Literature of War).

Selected Publications: Articles on Charles Dickens and Philip Roth; articles on showing American movies in the People's Republic of China (where I taught for a year); a book on D. H. Lawrence and one on Chartist poetry of the British working class of the 1820-50s; a recent anthology of original writings about work is being considered for publication.

Points of Interest: I am interested in the cultural, political, and social ramifications of literature. For example, this semester I am teaching a 400-level literature seminar called The Literature of War. I am currently researching the literature of genocide and the Holocaust from Armenia to Rwanda for a possible course. For the Major Author course I have attempted to select authors that reflect this interest: Melville, Roth, Lawrence, and Lewis.