Emma Tocci/Collegian
Literary critic and author Denis Donoghue talks with students after speaking to a full crowd in Phillips Auditorium last week.
It was a full house in Phillips Auditorium last Thursday. Students and professors alike gathered to hear world-renowned literary critic and author Dr. Denis Donoghue give a speech entitled “Why Read When You Can Watch TV or Play Video Games?”
Donoghue, who is the Henry James Professor in English and American Letters at City College of New York University, and who had a soft, slow Irish brogue and a sweet demeanor, veered off the original subject matter and spoke about the importance of reading and language.
The speech, which lasted nearly two hours, was met with praise not only by Hillsdale students, but also by faculty.
“I was impressed because it was so obvious our professors were impressed,” junior Dave Frank said.
Andrew Cuneo, assistant professor of English, who helped bring in Donoghue as a speaker, said he was thrilled to have Donoghue speak at the school.
“He's a scholar of both British and American literature, and this was a great opportunity to share someone of great stature with the students and hear his anecdotes,” Cuneo said.
“It's a chance to give a smaller school the chance to see a bigger academic world.”
“He's an internationally known literature scholar,” said Michael Jordan, chairman and associate professor of English.
“His life has been devoted to the reading, study and teaching of great and powerful books. He taught at Cambridge before [New York University]—he rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in literature.”
Some of those names that Donoghue has “rubbed shoulders with” include T.S. Eliot, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, to name a few.
“He knows all these people but he doesn't parlay his knowledge,” said David M. Whalen, associate professor of English and associate provost.
“His sensibilities of mind are perfect for Hillsdale,” he said. “We rarely see a first rate mind and acute literary sensibilities. This was a tour de force of what a real literary intelligence can do and is. He provided our students a picture of a magnificent literary reasoning.”
Although the speech Donoghue gave had little to do with the title, he still kept the audience interested.
“It wasn't what I expected, but I enjoyed it,” Frank said.
“I thought it would be more of a social commentary. He focused on the arduous joy of reading—why reading is important and why it can be beautiful.”
Donoghue said in his speech that the practice of reading is often ignored. He stressed that reading is not only asking what a work is about but is also understanding the language comprising the piece.
“We take reading for granted,” he said. “We assume we know what reading is. We need to try to understand what's involved in reading a language.”
Junior Ryan Walsh said Donoghue's speech gave him a new perspective of how to read literature.
“He told us to appreciate the language within the literature—you don't need to have a deeper meaning to appreciate it,” Walsh said.
“I enjoyed [the speech] immensely,” Whalen said. “A breath of fresh air to have so keen a mind take you with him in the most serious of studies is a terrific experience. It's why I'm an academic.”