Dr. David R. Sorensen Presents "Listening to the Past" Library Lecture

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Dr. David R. Sorensen, professor of English and associate director of the honors program at Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, will present his lecture, "Listening to the Past" at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in the Hankamer Treasure Room in Armstrong Browning Library.

Sorensen's lecture will focus on a single moment in the history of poetry in the 19th century--when Scottish social critic and historian Thomas Carlyle declared that the only true poetry was history and questioned whether we could tell it right. Sorensen will discuss the impact of Carlyle's work on English poetry and the monologues of poet Robert Browning.

Sorensen has contributed to various publications, among them The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle, The French Revolution and The Carlyle Encyclopedia. He received the Tengelmann Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research from Saint Joseph's University in 2009. He also received four grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities for the Carlyle Letters Project.

Along with the lecture, Armstrong Browning Library will announce the purchase of 282 rare and secondary Thomas Carlyle publications. Baylor student Stephanie Watson will play the harp.

"Since we are the largest collection of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning materials in the world, it is fitting that we expand into collecting works by other major Victorian writers," said Rita S. Patteson, librarian and curator of manuscripts in Armstrong Browning Library.

The event is free and open to the public. Armstrong Browning Library is at 710 Speight Ave. on Baylor's campus.

For more information, contact Rita S. Patteson at (254) 710-4967.

by Jessica Puente, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805