Reading illuminates a more personal side of three professors

Preoccupied with syllabi filled with classics, too many students forget about reading contemporary works—some written by their own professors. On Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. in Sulzberger parlor, Fall Barnard Faculty Reading presented writers Saskia Hamilton, Polly Devlin, and Nick Laird as part of the Writers Barnard Reading Series. All three writers are currently teaching writing courses at Barnard and read from their recent work.

The reading had a strong sense of dialogue between the three authors. They had been in conversation well before the event, and this strongly resonated in the overall flow of the reading.

Millicent C. McIntosh Professor in English and Writing Mary Gordon introduced the authors. The night began with Hamilton’s poetry, progressed to Devlin’s memoir about childhood and discovering the potential of literature, and then closed with Laird, who read a variety of his poetry.

Hamilton, an associate professor of English at Barnard, explored a range of different subjects—from landscapes to meditations on a stranger observed from afar—in her reading. Commenting on the immersive effects of language, she said “the ineffable is everywhere in language.” Both a poet and an editor, Hamilton has written “Divide These” (Graywolf Press, 2005) and “As for Dream” (2001) and edited “The Letters of Robert Lowell” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005).

Devlin read from her memoir, titled “All of Us There” (2003). She has written poetry and novels but has only recently turned to the memoir form. In a section about growing up in a secluded town in Ireland, Devlin describes feeling trapped in a substantial but entirely remote community where exploring literature became her escape. Though she discusses the experience of growing up in County Tyrone on the shores of Lough Neagh in the 1950s, her writing has a universal quality to it. There is a yearning to grow up and access a larger world.

Both Devlin and Laird are visiting faculty members. The latter currently teaches Introduction to Fiction Writing. Coincidentally, Laird also grew up in Counry Tyrone, Northern Ireland, about 10 miles from Devlin, but she said the locations were almost as different as living in different parts of New York City.

Laird began by reading a poem compiled from sentences people had written on the wall of the library he used to frequent. His selections were drawn from his poetry books “To a Fault” (2006) and the more recent “On Purpose” (2010). The mood of Laird’s poems ranged from dark love poems to a three-sonnet sequence for his dog, Maude.
Despite the wide variations in form and theme, all three authors contributed to a seamlessly pleasant night of sharing words and ideas.