Held in conjunction with the St. George Tucker Society’s annual meeting, the Brooks Forum features advanced graduate students engaged in the early stages of the dissertation writing process. By design, it affords these emerging scholars with an opportunity to present original work on the American South—focused on any period, sub-region, or methodological approach—in a collegial, academic setting.
The Forum is named for Cleanth Brooks, Gray Professor of Rhetoric at Yale University, noted literary critic, and a founding member of the St. George Tucker Society. A Kentucky native, Brooks studied with the Agrarians and Fugitives at Vanderbilt University before receiving a master’s degree from Tulane University and earning a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Exeter College, Oxford. While a professor at Louisiana State University, he co-founded, along with his friend and colleague Robert Penn Warren, The Southern Review. A prolific author, Brooks is best known for his contributions to the New Criticism—a careful, textualist approach to understanding poetry.
The selected panelist(s) will submit one dissertation chapter for pre-circulation among Tucker Society members. At the annual meeting, each panelist will provide a brief presentation of five to ten minutes on their research, evidence, and conclusions. This will be followed by a period of open discussion and workshopping with the audience.