When William Bradford, the first governor of Plimouth Plantation, described the Pilgrims’ first glimpse of Cape Cod, the new landscapes that emphasized the bewilderment they felt at its “wild and savage hue.” Nearly three hundred years later, another Massachusetts writer, W.E.B. DuBois, spoke of  the landscapes and speaking of having “been born by a golden river and in the shadow of two great hills.” Arguably, both men considered the North American landscape to be their home, and also a place where they were constrained.  Michael Hoberman will explore the fraught theme of place in American literature, from the colonial period to the present day.

Michael Hoberman is professor of American literature at Fitchburg State University. He is a graduate of Reed College, received his Ph.D. from UMass Amherst, and has published several books and scholarly articles on New England history and Jewish-American culture.  His latest book is A Hundred Acres of America: The Geography of Jewish-American Literary History (Rutgers University Press, 2018).

This workshop will be delivered via Zoom. You will only get the Zoom invite if you are registered.