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“My students at CNR are absolutely the greatest —
they are my heroes, as
corny as that may sound. Each brings originality and verve into the
classroom and into my life. Each one has overcome tremendous obstacles
to attend college — financial, physical, and psychological — because
these are tough times to be a young person, especially a young woman
(this year I have a male nursing student — I’m giving him a shout-out
too!).”
Dr. Cynthia Kraman
Associate Professor of English
School of Arts & Sciences
The College of New Rochelle
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Tell us a little about yourself, Dr. Kraman.
Like Nancy Reagan and
the Ramones, I come from Queens, New York, but
thanks to my mother life in an outer borough was extraordinarily
vibrant. As president of the PTA, she helped implement the first use of
the Princeton Plan for integration. Over the years we marched for Civil
Rights, and peace, and women’s rights. We also went to many, many art
exhibitions, including the zany one when the Mona Lisa came to New York
and everyone stood on a ramp. I went to experimental plays in the
Village and to the first productions of Shakespeare in the Park, which
I remember with delight even as I teach Shakespeare today. Aside from
my parents (my father was a fourth-grade drop-out and self-taught
neo-expressionist) my high school English teacher Bernadette Russo,
with whom I discussed Sylvia Plath and wrote on Thomas Hardy, was a
tremendous influence. So I never felt I grew up in a backwater.
I did take a break after working hard as
an undergraduate to give my
attention to writing poetry. I began an MFA at Columbia, but after
publishing my first year manuscript,
Taking on the Local Color, with
Wesleyan University Press, I left. I decided to travel and look for
America (like every other writer…) After criss-crossing the states and
Canada, I eventually returned, took an MA at Hunter, and a Ph.D. at
Queen Mary, University of London.
What do you teach here at The College of
New Rochelle?
I’m teaching an
exciting special topic next semester, The Writing Life.
It’s open to English majors and minors as well as anyone interested, as
long as they see me. It comes out of my trip this summer to Swansea,
Wales, where I went to “think along with” the magical poet Dylan
Thomas. As I slid along the glittering rocks at Rhossili where the poet
took inspiration, it was clear that his landscapes, his home life, as
well as his work, were things to investigate with my students who are,
like me, writers. What does it mean to read and write as a way of being
in the world? We’ll try to figure it out.
In general I’m fortunate enough to teach
a wide array of courses. This
includes the course Woody Allen said everyone should avoid, the one
that starts with Beowulf--- Survey of English Literature I. I
also teach Chaucer, Shakespeare, American poetry, creative writing
courses (poetry and playwriting) and seminars on King Arthur, European
Masters, and of course, Plath.
What is your main research area?
At the University of
London I became a medievalist. I did work on
landscape in English work of the fourteenth century. I’ve published
chapters in anthologies and conference proceedings on Chaucer and the
Pearl poet. A few years ago I began to read the work of the French
Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. I wrote a chapter linking his
ideas on the Other to medieval thought for my book A Great Longing:
Landscape, God and the Body in Medieval English Literature,
under
contract with University of Wales Press. I was surprised to find three
sessions led by Ann Astell on this very topic at the 40th International
Congress on Medieval Studies, at Kalamazoo, May 2005. She and Justin
Jackson are editing an anthology that came out of these sessions for
Duquesne. It should be out soon.
Also, after over a decade, I’ve collected
a new manuscript of poetry.
Bowery Books is bringing out The
Touch in the spring. This is really a
huge step for me. Although I published my first book with Wesleyan, and
two other small press collections, I’d grown a little weary of the
poetry scene. Luckily, while I did my scholarly work, Pulitzer Prize
winner Richard Howard continued to publish me in The Paris Review. I’ve
been friends since the 70’s with Bowery Book Club owner Bob Holman, and
I’m very proud to work with him and my other editor Marjorie Tesser,
and with Gary Glazner, a poet who has done terrific work with
Alzheimers patients.
What do you want for your students?
My students at CNR
are absolutely the greatest—they are my heroes, as
corny as that may sound. Each brings originality and verve into the
classroom and into my life. Each one has overcome tremendous obstacles
to attend college---financial, physical, and psychological---because
these are tough times to be a young person, especially a young woman
(this year I have a male nursing student---I’m giving him a shout-out
too!).
For all my students, I want two things: a
great big leap up the ladder
of success, and the life-long consolation of literature. The first I
address by teaching each class as an English class. We work on grammar,
structuring arguments, and deploying theory. We may read Michel
Foucault along with Duras in European Masters, but I remain perversely
focused on commas. Students must revise drafts. This all helps them
with the first goal, to be successful. They become good writers who
think clearly. But an immersion in literature also helps each
become a more sensitive person with a more developed consciousness.
This last thought leads me to the second
goal---to leave them all with
a new way of finding meaning, finding comfort. I have ways of arranging
courses so that I don’t have to give pop quizzes or worry about
plagiarism. So the scary stuff is gone, I hope. I try, as much as
possible, to allow them to do what I feel is the best thing in
life---to talk about big things in big ways. The most satisfying social
activity, for me, is the ability to have a thought-provoking, informed,
original, intense, and consciousness-transforming conversation. OK, I’m
a little bit of a jock, and I love to cook and eat, and I admit to too
many hours spent watching Mad Men.
But the most fun you can have,
really, is with a book you’ve been trained to read. This means my
students can and should go on to graduate school and careers they love.
But more importantly, they will open a book in the middle of the night
for company, because the conversation can go on alone, with just one’s
thoughts and the text streaming together. And all you need is a book
and a light.
