Abram Van Engen, chair of the Department of English in Arts & Sciences at WashU, was installed Sept. 17 as the Stanley Elkin Professor in the Humanities.
The program included a welcome from Feng Sheng Hu, the Richard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences and the Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor; and an introduction by Vincent Sherry, the Howard Nemerov Professor in the Humanities.
In his installation address, Van Engen described how he has learned to move between different audiences: the scholarly, the general and the “intimate public.” The latter is a subset of the general public that shares one’s background and deeply held beliefs, Van Engen said, adding that his intimate public is based on poetry and religious faith.
“We all have our own. Mine is not yours. Yours is not mine,” he said. “And that is a very good thing. All of them matter.”
Van Engen took pride in being honored with a professorship named for renowned author Stanley Elkin. “I hope to someday get a sentence absolutely perfect just for him,” he said.
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