Christina Root Emeritus Professor of English

Bio

M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Columbia University
A.B. Bryn Mawr College

Courses I Teach:

In the English Department:

• British Romanticism
• 19th and 20th Century British and European Literature

In the Humanities Program:

• Enlightenment and Revolution
• Modern Civilization

Research

Over the past 10 years, my research has focused on the nature writing of German playwright and scientist J.W. von Goethe, and on using his phenomenological method to illuminate the ecological elements in Romantic and post-Romantic writers. As part of this project, I have published articles on Goethe and Thoreau, on Robert Frost and on Mary Oliver. My most recent essay, “A Melodiousness at Odds with Pessimism: Ian McEwan’s Saturday” appeared in The Journal of Modern Literature, Fall 2011.

Awards & Recognition

Joanne Rathgeb Teaching Award in 2006.

Interview

Further Interests:

I particularly enjoy the work of writers who, like Thoreau and Keats, articulate their connection to the natural world in language that affords endless possibilities for discovery. Equally, I love writers who explore the nuances of social interactions with subtlety and humor (E.M Forster and Jane Austen). I can’t live without a daily dose of P.G. Wodehouse.

I sing in the chorus Social Band and am married to a composer. When I’m not learning music, I am listening to The Milkman’s Union.

Recent News

George Dameron, professor emeritus of history, presented a lecture titled “Dante in a Global Context” on Nov. 1 in the Roy Room of the Dion Center. Introducing George was Christina Root of the English faculty, who, with Crystal L’Hote of philosophy, is a co-director of the College’s Humanities Center that George founded.
(posted February 2022)