AADL Talks To: U-M Emeritus Professor of English Bert Hornback

Sun, 06/24/2018 - 1:58pm

In this episode, AADL talks to beloved University of Michigan emeritus professor of English Bert Hornback, who stopped by to chat with us during a recent return visit to Ann Arbor from Saarbrücken, Germany. Between 1964 and 1992, Hornback received two university awards for distinguished teaching. He was influential in bringing students and faculty together for literary adventures great and small, and is best remembered for his annual public reading of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

In this conversation, Hornback brings back an Ann Arbor when poets were rock stars and students gathered at his Blunderstone Rookery to recite Ulysses through the night. He recalls bringing UK Prime Minister Edward Heath to U-M's campus; the night he ate a pig with former poet laureate, Donald Hall; and gives us his pick for the best Charles Dickens novel to help us navigate these tumultuous current times.