How did two English professors influence the outcome of World War I? What does literary studies have to do with 20th century military intelligence and cryptanalysis? How can the humanities assert its value in an industrialized world that seems to care only about the production of things rather than knowledge? What happens when humanities scholars embrace collaboration and laboratory experimentation as the sciences do? And are we the first generation of humanist academics to experience exhaustion, burn out, and disillusionment?
These questions and more are answered in a new book from Palgrave Macmillan by English department faculty Drs. Katherine Ellison and Susan M. Kim titled Collaborative Humanities Research and Pedagogy: The Networks of John Matthews Manly and Edith Rickert. This edited collection fills a gap in the story of the humanities, a story that has been only partially, and inaccurately, told. Showcasing the achievements and partnerships of two extraordinary literary scholars, John Matthews Manly and Edith Rickert, who created the infamous Chaucer Laboratory at the University of Chicago, pioneered the pedagogy of writing, and solved ciphers during World War I, Ellison, Kim, and the authors of the collection sketch an inspirational portrait of what is possible when humanities scholars work together and defy the boundaries of disciplinarity.
Given the recent shrinkage and closure of English and language departments across the United States and the declining and politicized scrutiny of the humanities, academics and the funders with the power to support their work need more than ever to hear about Manly’s and Rickert’s accomplishments and their unwavering faith in the intellectual and practical value of the humanities.
