Harry Berger

Harry Berger Jr. was Professor Emeritus of Literature and Art History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was a founding faculty member in 1965. Best known as the father of modern Spenserian studies, Berger's first laurels were earned through intriguing interpretations of "The Faerie Queen," written by Edmund Spenser in 1596. He was a scholar of Renaissance English literature with interests that include art history, anthropology, and philosophy. Although much of Berger's initial scholarship was in Renaissance poetry, particularly Spenser's work, his research and interests quickly expanded to Dante, Plato, metaphysics, and art history. Berger helped lead a generation of cultural critics to the conclusion that all narrative is rhetorical and pedagogic and not factual. In art history, Berger had a special interest in Italian and Dutch painting and the theory and practice of portraiture. He was the founder of the critical school of Reconstructed Old New Criticism. Additionally, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award from the International Spenser Society in 2003. In 2003 the Modern Language Association devoted a panel to his impact on literary studies, and two universities have sponsored conferences celebrating his achievements. In 2009, Fordham University Press published A Touch More Rare: Harry Berger, Jr. and the Art of Interpretation, celebrating more than four decades of groundbreaking work by Berger. In 2010 Berger received the Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award from the University of California system.