The Babcock Lecture
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2026 Babcock Lectures & Events
A Literary Celebration of Edgar Allan Poe
March 12 – Film & Commentary
“Fellini’s Poe: Toby Dammit“
5:00 p.m. | Yager Museum, Yager Hall
Though only thirty minutes in length, Federico Fellini’s Toby Dammit (1968), a version of Edgar Allan Poe’s “Never Bet the Devil Your Head. A Moral Tale” (1841), is one of the most highly regarded works by the great Italian screenwriter and director of classics such as La Strada (1954), La Dolce Vita (1960), and 8½ (1963). Our showing of Toby Dammit will be preceded by a brief commentary by Professor Emeritus of English David Cody on the film’s place in a great tradition of attempts to translate Poe’s memorable words into equally memorable images.
March 26 – Babcock Lectures
5:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. | Celebration Room, Shineman Chapel House
“Poe in Richmond in 1836”
Richard Kopley, author of Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, will present extracts from the book focusing on new stories about Poe from never-before-published letters by the stepdaughter of Poe’s best friend. These stories recover the private Poe, sometimes elated, sometimes despairing. Understanding more fully the man may help us understand more fully his work.
“My Life with Poe from Washington PA to Washington DC, and Beyond”
American antiquarian and a rare book and photograph collector, Stephan Loewentheil will speak about the exploits, coups, and adventures of a “super-collector” and his highly-regarded Poe Catalogue. He is the founder and president of the 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop in New York, NY and Baltimore, MD.
Richard Kopley
Richard Kopley is Distinguished Professor of English, Emeritus, at Penn State DuBois and a prolific writer on 19 th Century American Romantic Literature. His most recent book, Edgar Allan Poe: A Life (University of Virginia Press, 2025) has been hailed by critics as “[A]magisterial critical biography…” (Publishers Weekly, starred review); “[Definitive…A richly detailed, sympathetic portrait” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review); and “thoughtful and compassionate” (Washington Post Book World). Kopley’s other books include The Threads of The Scarlet Letter: A Study of Hawthorne’s Transformative Art(2003), Edgar Allan Poe and the Dupin Mysteries(2011), and The Formal Center in Literature: Explorations from Poe to the Present(2018). He has edited the books Poe’s Pym: Critical Explorations(1992), The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, by Edgar Allan Poe (1999), Poe Writing / Writing Poe (with Jana Argersinger, 2013), and Edgar Allan Poe in 20 Objects (with Gabrielle Dean, 2016).
Kopley has served as president of the Poe Studies Association and the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society. He has published numerous scholarly articles and chapters on Poe and Hawthorne, and he has lectured widely on the two writers both in the United States and abroad. He won a Fulbright Specialist Award in 2016 and a Virginia Humanities Fellowship in 2018. He was given a Lifetime Achievement and Service Award by the Poe Studies Association in 2018. Kopley was a Keynote Speaker at the Paris conference of the Poe Studies Association and the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society in Paris in July 2025. He is also the author of short stories and children’s picture-books.
In January 2026 Edgar Allan Poe: A Life was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for their Edgar Award in the nonfiction category.
Stephan Loewentheil
Rare book super-collector Stephan Loewentheil will share insights from decades of rare-book-collecting, with special emphasis on his renowned “Poe Catalogue” (1992), a comprehensive bibliography of rare Poe materials. A preeminent collector of Poe books and manuscripts since his mid-20s, Loewentheil was, in 2009, made an honorary member of the Poe Studies Association for his contribution to Poe scholarship.
A graduate of Washington & Jefferson College and of Cornell Law School, Loewentheil is the founder and president of the 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop, located in New York, New York and Baltimore, Maryland. He has assembled one of the most respected private collections of 19th-century rare books and photographs in the world. Loewentheil established the Beth and Stephan Loewentheil Family Photography Collection, considered the keynote of Cornell University Library’s collection of fine-art photography.
Past Lectures Include:
- Anna Kornbluh, “Historical Fictions, Heist Flicks, and other Climate Genres for a Burning World”
- Robert T. Tally Jr., “Mapping and Monsters: Critical Theory in the Teratocene”
- Paul Benzon, “The Poetics and Politics of the Paralegible”
- Amitava Kumar, “The Man Without a Country”
- Brian Greenspan, “The Mobile Sleuth: Stories for Urban Media”
About the Babcock Lecture
The Babcock Lecture is presented by the Babcock Chair in English, the Department of Literature Media and Writing, and the Visiting Writers Series at Hartwick College.
In 1941, Cora A. Babcock, a graduate of Hartwick Seminary, partially endowed the Babcock Chair in English to honor Dr. James A. Pitcher, whose inspired teaching of English and theology at the Seminary had influenced Babcock’s decision to teach and whose career as scholar, poet, and administrator had strengthened the Seminary. Later receiving further support from a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to enhance instruction in the humanities at Hartwick College, the Babcock Chair’s endowment was increased “to reward outstanding achievement by a member of our own faculty.” The Babcock Chair is a three-year appointment that supports scholarly work, creative work, and pedagogical or curricular research of tenured faculty who have established a record of superior teaching and scholarly or creative work. The Babcock Professor also administers one or two major lectures a year, to be called the Babcock Lectures.
Questions?
For more information, please contact Professor of English and Babcock Professor of English Susan Navarette at [email protected] or 607- 431-4643.