Author/Professors and Professor/Authors

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Jhumpa Lahiri (in the green). Photo credit: Barnard College.

I’m on the email list of Barnard College because my older daughter Maggie graduated from there. This past Thursday, a message went out that Barnard alum Jhumpa Lahiri is now at the New York City-based college as professor of English and director of creative writing.

That evoked memories of reading Lahiri’s excellent fiction, including The Namesake and The Lowland novels, and also “provoked” a blog idea: novelists who double(d) as professors for at least part of their careers.

And why not? Teaching uses different creative muscles, is a source of additional income (not all well-known novelists are rich), gets authors away from their solitary writing desks into some semblance of the real world, enables them to help budding writers, gives them insight into what young people are thinking, etc. Perhaps their teaching also indirectly infuses their own writing, or even directly if a book they pen has an academic setting.

On the other hand, teaching time does take away from writing time.

In some cases, dual-duty authors were professors who later became novelists. But perhaps in more cases, they first gained some renown as novelists — after which universities came a-calling.

I immediately thought of Toni Morrison, who, in addition to writing acclaimed novels such as Beloved and Song of Solomon, taught at various institutions of higher education — topped off by 17 years at Princeton University, which would later name a building after her. Before Princeton, Morrison imparted her knowledge to students at Rutgers University (one of my alma maters), the State University of New York, and Bard College.

Speaking of Princeton, the prolific writer Joyce Carol Oates taught for a whopping 36 years there, and more recently has been a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Jeffrey Eugenides (author of Middlesex, etc.) also taught at Princeton before moving on to New York University — where Zadie Smith (White Teeth, etc.) has also taught.

Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer, etc.) is a professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

Junot Diaz? The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao author has been a creative writing professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vladimir Nabokov (of Lolita, etc., fame) taught at Wellesley College and Cornell University.

Underrated author Kent Haruf — whose novels include Plainsong and Our Souls at Night — was a professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

This post has been United States-centric, but I’ll name one author who taught in Europe: J.R.R. Tolkien spent decades at England’s University of Oxford — during which time he also wrote a novel and a trilogy you may have heard of: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Your thoughts on this topic? Past or present author/professors and professor/authors you’d like to mention? Including some teaching outside of the U.S., please. 🙂

I don’t usually draw extra attention to the weekly humor column I mention in a bold-faced paragraph under every blog post, but this past Thursday’s piece was the 1,000th installment of my “Montclairvoyant” feature! The headline: “1,000 Columns, But None Ionic or Corinthian.” Link is below.

My literary-trivia book is described and can be purchased here: Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — my 1,000th!!! — is here.

123 thoughts on “Author/Professors and Professor/Authors”

  2. “Death of an Old Goat” by Robert Barnard concerns the murder of an ossified traveling Oxford lecturer killed in a remote Australian college town. The opportunity of free drinks seems to motivate most of the campus characters, but the alcohol, uniformly cheap yet doled out resentfully on most of the social occasions described, has the effect of making some people say things that might be taken the wrong way, and one such, the Old Goat himself, gets his throat cut as a result.The murder as mystery holds readerly interest, but the description of the town, the university, and the social set on and off campus are pointed and viciously funny throughout.

    Barnard spent five years as an academic in the English Department at the University of new England at Armdale, New South Wales, Australia.

    “Lucky Jim” by Kingsley Amis is an English academic fantasy plausibly and pleasingly rendered, in which a regular bumbling fellow, without connections or pedigree or permanent position eventually gets the right girl and the better gig and the brown-noser gets his come-uppance.

    Amis was a lecturer in English at the University College of Swansea for over a decade, and taught creative writing at Princeton briefly.

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    • Thank you, jhNY, for those two great examples of authors/professors — and the terrific descriptions of two of their works. If Robert Barnard had only taught at…Barnard. 🙂

      Oh, I especially appreciate that the two examples were non-U.S. ones (even with Amis’ brief Princeton sojourn).

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  3. Good morning Dave…just a different topic on books…
    Lee and Andrew Child`s ” Thr Secret” is number one in NYT book list.
    I need to finish it this week as I have a little more than half left !

    Also now we could expect every October the nerw one would keep on coming to keep us entertained.

    JUst ask Misty not to sit on that !

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  4. Hi Dave,

    Like many people, I read “Nineteen Eighty-Four” as a teenager. Then years later, I read “Brave New World”. I commented to you that “Nineteen Eighty-Four” felt very original to me and because I’d read it second, “Brave New World” would always pale in comparison. I confessed though, that I had done no research, and maybe Huxley was older than Orwell and his was the more original of the two novels. Well of course, because you’ve read all of the books, and know everything there is to know about literature, you replied to tell me that Orwell had actually been a student of Huxley’s! So Aldus Huxley is my offering for this week. Which is knowledge that I gained from following this wonderful blog. ❤

    Sue

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    • Thank you, Sue, for the very well-crafted comment and the very kind words! 🙂 Yes! Orwell was a student of Huxley’s. The thought of those two being in the same classroom…dystopian heaven! (That might be an oxymoron. 🙂 )

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  5. That is a really cool concept of the author-teacher profession. Alot of authors love research and teaching others while learning from others so that fits really well.
    I’m not a professional author, but have dedicated a great deal of time to writing. I never saw myself as teacherly as I’m always learning new things and don’t see myself as an authority. However, I noticed having a day job has enhanced my writing. You can get alot done with a full time job! Being a psychologist and writer interests me – if I can hunker down my finances enough I’ll go for it!

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  8. Saikat Majumdar is an Indian professor and author who I follow. In fact, nearly all professors back from college and university days have been authors. I guess when it’s teaching that you opt for first, it is natural to gravitate towards writing. Especially, when you teach Literature.

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  9. Wait, Dave. What? A solitary writing desk isn’t the real world? No, no. In fact, it not only is the real world, it’s also a gate into a better world — with real people who are not alone.

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  10. An exception to this often hand-in-hand, dry-as-dust self-referring academic world of professor come writer is one of America’s most prolific and best writers of the 1900s, who did one stint as a professor at Harvard Summer School, only to confirm his conviction that the two roles do not complement each other, is John Updike.

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  11. Wallace Stegner, who was a professor, writer, teacher at Wisonsin, Harvard and Stanford Universities. In fact, he taught a number of authors including Ken Kesey and Larry McMurtry, His novel, Angle Of Repose, won a Pulitzer Prize. Stephen King, though not a professor, graduated from the University of Maine, and taught high school. I consider some of these guys as professor adjacent, choosing to write rather than pursue the degree, Like Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck’s friend, who was a writer as well as a character in Steinbeck’s books, brilliant guy though he shunned the intellectual muckety mucks. Great theme Dave. Thanks Susi

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  12. I’ve read several books by professors, but they were nonfiction books, related to the fields they taught. In Rick Bragg’s case, a journalism career and a series of nonfiction books came first. He now also teaches journalism and writing at the University of Alabama.

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  13. Yet another interesting and relevant topic, Dave! I would like to take this opportunity to introduce E.R. Braithwaite (1912-2016), the Guyanese-born British-American novelist, writer, teacher, and diplomat. As the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, he is best known for his 1959 debut semi-autobiographical novel “To Sir, With Love,” based on his nine-year experience as a high school teacher in London’s poor East End district. The book later became a popular 1967 film, starring Sidney Poitier. He taught English Studies at New York University, was a writer-in-residence at Howard University (2002), and a visiting professor at Manchester Community College in Connecticut (2005-2006).

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    • Thank you, Rosaliene! Excellent mention and description of E.R. Braithwaite! Sounds like he had wide-ranging experience as both a teacher and writer, and of course “To Sir, With Love” is an iconic book (and movie and song).

      Reminds me of another teacher/author who lived past 100 — “Up the Down Staircase” writer Bel Kaufman.

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  14. Good evening, Dave, when I read you very interesting post, I immediately thought of the touching novel “Disgrace” by the South African writer J.M. Coetzee, who according to what I found online tought literature at the State Universitiy of New York at Buffalo, where he started his first novel. Later he returned to Cape Town, where he tought literature. He also worked at the University of Adelaide and also won the Nobel Price in Literature.

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  15. A great topic, Dave!

    I took the liberty of including the poet, Robert Frost, who taught English at various institutions, including Amherst College and the University of Michigan. I read that his experience as an educator greatly influenced his writing style.

    Kurt Vonnegut taught creative writing at the University of Iowa, the University of Chicago, and Harvard University. I read that his teaching approach was known for its wit and humor, which mirrored his writing style.

    Elizabeth Gauffreau is a writer, poet and educator. She has a passion for both writing and teaching, and, I believe that she excels in both fields. With her extensive knowledge and experience, she is able to effectively convey information and engage her audience within our blogging community and I’m certain that this is true within a teaching venue. Elizabeth’s writing is clear, concise, and well-researched, making her work highly informative and enjoyable to read.

    The quote that I have today is by Robert Frost: “There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.”

    I’ll be back to read the follow-up discussion. Thanks again!!!

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  17. Margaret Atwood taught at a number of universities including the University of British Columbia, the Sir George Williams University in Montreal, the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto. She also taught outside of Canada at the University of Alabama, New York University, and Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. And as a writer-in-residence at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

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  18. HI Dave, I must admit that I don’t know many writers who are also professors. CS Lewis taught at Oxford alongside Tolkien and they were friends. Lewis Carroll or Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, author of Alice in Wonderland, also taught at Oxford. My friend and beta reader, Prof Charles French, teaches at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Charles has written several books.

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  19. Having been a Chemistry undergrad and Business graduate student, I didn’t have any creative wiring courses in college. I did take two courses after graduating. One was taught by a local (Pacific Northwest) author. I remember seeing columns and essays by her in the newspapers. The other was an English professor (St John’s University) but he never mentioned writing. The professor who was published, made the class more interesting because she added some current examples.

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