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PAGE SIX
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, MWAY 22, 1955
IN B ABBIT T'S T RADIT ION:*
Warren Muses on Literature and Life
FR EE ROOM, BOARD:
Former Wrestling Champ
Operates 'Moth Ranch'
By MICHAEL BRAUN
ROF. AUSTIN WARREN of the
PEnglish department stands
like an incongruous crag of Ver-
mont granite among the rolling
plains of the Middle West.
After a conversation with him
the listener feels as if he has
been talking with the conscience
of New England,
Although Japanese prints and
Ikons are fixed to the walls of his
home, they are only tangible man-
ifestations of the Warren person-
ality.
For after the visitor has admir-
ed the ,prints and praised the
authenticity of the ikons, some-
thing intangible remains. There
is no need for portraits of Emer-
son, Whitman and Thoreau; they
are there.
No lithograph of Concord or
etching of Salem, only millions of
words in hundreds of books, some
written by the owner.
A manuscript marked "New
England: Studies In Four Cen-
turies of Spiritual Life" is In evi-
dence. Prof. Warren's pencilled
witnesstosthe thoroughness of his
craftsmanship.
The table of contents reads like
a roll call of New England thought.
Essays range from the poetry of
the Puritans to poetry of younger
Yankee contemporaries.
pROF. WARREN ls particularly
Sinterested inan essay entitled
"Taylor of the Seamen's Bethel."
Father Taylor along with Mrs.
Jack Gardner of the Fenway Pal-
ace was one of the most striking
figures in the history of Boston,
Prof. Warren went on to say.
He was a Virginian who went
to sea at an early age. He later
became a poet pretcher like his
namesake Bishop Jeremy Taylor,
the seventeenth century English
metaphysical poet.
It was the younger Taylor's
habit never to commit his ser-
mons to paper before delivering
them. Yet, his pews were always
stocked with the intellectuals of
ROTC adets
W in Medals
Winners of medals In yester-
day's Armed Forces Day celebra-
tion are:
Cadet Lt. Colonel Robert A.
Miller, 'S5BAd-The Sons of the
American Revolution Medal for
outstanding leadership in drill.
Cadet Colonel Robert A. Wiley,
'55P, Silver Medal; Cadet M/Sgt.
George W. Hill, '56 BAd, Gold
Medal; Cadet Sgt. Gary E. Boe,
'57, Silver iMedal, and Cadet Pfc.
William M. Woodruff, '58, Silver
Medal-from the Chicago Tribune
for scholastic achievement.
Cadet Lt. Colonel ~John H. FII-
dew, '58L-the Association of the
United States Army medal for the
senior class cadet with the highest
four year ROTC academic grade.
Cadet Lt. Colonel Robert A. Mil-
ler, "BAd-The Association of the
United States Army medal for the
senior class cadet who has done
the most to promote extra-curri-
cular military activities at the
Unlversity
Banquet Speaker
Donald Aihrens, general manag-
er of Cadillac Motor Co. and a
vice-president of General Motors
will speak at 4 p.m. today at the
Delta Upsilon 'alumni banquet.
Others among the 100 expected
guests include University Vice-
President Marvin H. -Niehuss, Di-
rector of University Relations Ar-
thur Brandon and Prof. Walter
E. Lay of the engineering school.
--Daily-Esther Goudsmib
PROF. AUSTIN WARREN
... Missionary among the 'strange and curious,'
Boston and visiting celebrities
from England and the Continent.
Hi admiratio for Fathe Tay-
lor is not unlike his distaste. for
the conventional scholar. Although
he is an "admirer of knowledge
as well as possessing some myself"
he long ago "became disenchanted
with facts as facts alone."
pROF. WARREN prefers to use
the facts as a starting point.
Conscious of the then prevalent
factualistic-impressionistic dio-
chotomy in the teaching of liter-
ature, Prof. Warren addressed
himself to a fresh form of inter-
pretive criteria.
Out of this labor was born what
John Ransom has called "The New
Criticism"- term that Prof. War-
ren "regrets, and regards as a
blunder."
"Actually," he says "the only
thing that the 'New Critics' have
in common is that they have no
common methodology."
"Perhaps the best definition of
the breed," he continues, "is some-
one who takes both life and liter-
ature seriously. This would in-
clude contemporary literature as
well as the traditionalists."*
"The New Critics have been
deeply influenced by each other.
They may begin by approaching a
piec of literature from a Jun-
gian, Freudian, mythic or aesthetic
viewpoint but because of their per-
sonal friendships they absorb parts
of each other's criteria."
"Thus," he explains, "a once verb-
al critic like R. P. Blackmere will
assimilate the aesthetic view-
points of Allen Tate and in turn
be influenced by the sociological
and psychological outlook of the
Southern critics."
The important fact about the
New Critic is that he is essentially
a writer. Professionally he may be
a teacher, but it is his own writ-
ing and that of others that is
most important to him.
BY. DEFINITION Prof. Warren
is the quintessence of the
"New Critic." Professionally he,
teaches, writers to undergraduates
and writing to graduate students.
His course "Major American
Writers" is one of the few classes
where students do not become rest-
less as Burton Tower tolls the noon
hour. Several students in his class
eat what they call "A Warren
Lunch"-a quick sandwich neces-
sitated by the shortened lunch
hour.
Their instructor's lunchtime is
even shorter. Invariably, there are
students who wish to have Prof.
Warren clear up a fine point in
Faulkner or James. He makes it a
practice to remain in the class-
room until every student's ques-
tion is answered.
This practice grows out of Prof.
Warren's long standing belief that
the only way to properly educate
is to give personal attention to as
many students as possible.
AS A GRADUATE student at
Harvard, Prof. Warren was
greatly influenced by the late Ir-
ving Babbitt, professor of French
literature. Babbitt believed in per-
sonalized classes and accessibility
to students, a policy that Prof.
Warren has tried to emulate.
"However," he claims, "the very
size of Michigan has made this
almost impossible. The educational
policy at the University seems to
be to crowd as many students into
one room as they can."
He comments that it is impos-
sible to adequately teach a class
of 150 how to understand litera-
ture.
THEE IS TIME for thinking
of crowded classrooms, but
the writing must go on. In addi-
tion to his work on New England
thought, Prof. Warren is present-
ly at work on a collection of the
poetry of John Donne as well as
a critical monograph on Donne.
In addition he has completed an
autobiography, covering thirty
years of his life, entitled "Becom-
ing What One Is." He is also a
frequent contributor to the Ken-
rof. YWarrn believes that the
number of young intellectuals in
America is growing. "At times
though," he says, "I like to
emancipate myself from the aca-
demic."
This emancipation includes a
liking for be-bop "as well as the
more traditional music of a New
England boyhood." He is also an
avid reader of cookbooks, describ-
igthe famous chef Escoflier as
the "metaphysician of cookery."
There is sometimes for Austin
Warren a desire to return to the
life of the East, but then he re-
calls that he is a "missionary" in
a "strange and curious region."
Freudian Films
To Be Featured
Film experimentalist Maya Der-
en will appear in a special program
at 8 p.mn. Wednesday at Rackham
Amphitheater.
Miss Deren, who is being spon-
sored by Gothic Film Society, will
present such films as "Meshes of
the Afternoon," "At Land," and
"Pas de Deux." These ifims are
widely known for their strong
psychological themes and their
Freudian perspective of the human
mind.
Non-.members m a y purchase
single admissions at the door.
--Daily-Sam Ching
"LYSISTRATA''
. .. Aristophanes' Grecian women
.By MARY JANE STORRER
Can anyone spare a moth?
If so, William B. Stapp might be I
interested. ^
The former Marine sergeant and
Big Ten wrestling champion of
the University takes his moths se-
riously. He even boards them!
Stapp, a biology teacher at
Cranbrook School in Bloomfield
ito a moth ranch sconsisting1 o
sixty cocoons. By careful observ-
ance, he hopes to watch the cycle
from cocoon to adult moth, its
egg to caterpillar to cocoon to to
adult again.
Three Families
This madness has its sane side.
of course. The moths are from
thre p r ticular fa miies ceco-
piapromtheaand olypemus
The largest has a wingspread of
5%/ inches, considerably larger
than the destructive clothes-moth.
Caterpillars, however, have no
taste at all for dry wool,
TheeStie Shdue
They prefer succulent t r e e
leaves, which their host will pro-
vide on demand.
Through his observations, Stapp
should prove spebiflc answers to
several "how longs," i.e., how long
it takes a moth to get out of a co-
coon, dry its wings, and lay its
eggs: how long the adult lives and
how long it takes a caterpillar to
spin its cocoon.
Vacation Problem
Stapp was faced with a prob-
lem recently when he took a group
of his students on a Southern tour
during spring vacation.
Deciding that a car full of boys
and moths would be too much to
handle, he persuaded his fiance,
Gloria Duwe, a senior at the Uni-
versity, to board the insect fami-
lies while he was away.
A biology student herself, Miss
Duwe was sympathetic to the
project but her, less scientific
roommate sought temporary quar-
ters elsewhere.
By SHIRLEY CROOG
With Aristophane's ribald hu-
mor, Shakespeare's rustic comedy
and George Bernard Shaw's pun-
gent satire, the speech department
will present its fourth Laboratory
Playbill,
The playbill, representing bur-
lesques from three eras, incltides
Aristophane's "Lysistrata," Shake-
speare's "Pyramus and Thisbe"'
scene from "A Midsummer Night's
Dream," and Shaw's "The Admir-
le Bashville."
Adds Authenticity
Grecian costuming will acdd an
air of authenticity to the play-
bill's "Lysistrata," which con-
cerns a group of Grecian women
whQ wish to prevent war. They
boycott their husbands until the
men agree to abolish war-.
Reverse Humor
In the "Pyramus and Thisbe"
scene, the original humor situa-
tion has been reversed. In
Shakespeare's day male and fe-
mnale parts in the rustic rehearsal
scene were played by men only. In
the speech department version, an
all-female cast will play the roles
of the men and women.
With Shaw's "Admirable Bash-
ville,"' the speech department will
present nineteenth century comedy
in its broad and grandiose style,
typical of that era's melodramatic
acting. The humor of Shaw's sat-
ire lies in the characterization of
a literary prizefighter with an aca-
demic background.
The playbill will be presented at
8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in
Barbour Gymnasium. Admission
is free.
Board To Meet
Board of Governors of the grad-
uate school will hold its annual
meeting tomorrow in the Kresge
Medical Bldg.
Members will inspect the arthri-
tis research unit recently moved in
the building from University Aos-
pital.
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