Islandology
Moderated by
Yoojin Jung
Senior Researcher
The Asia Institute
Marc Shell, Irving Babbitt Professor of Comparative Literature and Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University, presents his insights into the cultural significance of the islands of Seoul and how they have served as to create a unique urban space. The seminar commemorates the recent publication of Professor Shell’s book Islandology: Geography, Rhetoric, Politics from Stanford University Press.
MARC SHELL, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow, is the Irving Babbitt Professor of Comparative Literature and Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. He is also Professor in the university’s undergraduate Literature Concentration and the graduate program in History of American Civilization.
Marc Shell was born in Québec in 1947. As an undergraduate, he studied English Language at McGill University (Montréal) and History at Trinity College (Cambridge). He received a BA in English Language & Literature and also in Social Thought & Institutions from Stanford University (1968). He has an MA (1972) and PhD (1975) in Comparative Literature from Yale University. Before coming to Harvard University, Professor Shell taught in the Department of English at the State University of New York at Buffalo (1974-1986). His administrative duties at Harvard have included chairing the Literature Concentration and the Department of Comparative Literature. Professor Shell co-founded Harvard’s summer schools in Olympia (Greece) and Cascais (Portugal). More recently, he has taught during summers at Harvard’sSummer School in Venice (Italy). During the 2007-09 academic year terms, when classes at Harvard were not in session, Professor Shell was scholar-in-residence, for one week each, at three institutions: Nanjing Normal University (Nanjing, China), the City University of New York (Brooklyn, NY), and the United Arab Emirates University (Al Ain, United Arab Emirates). Professor Shell is Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Center for the Environment.
