Stringfellow Barr

Stringfellow Barr

Stringfellow Barr (b. January 15 1897, Suffolk, Virginia - February 3 1982, Alexandria, Virginia) was a historian, author, and former president of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, where he, together with Scott Buchanan, instituted the Great Books curriculum.

Barr was the editor of Virginia Quarterly Review from 1931-1937. [cite web|url=http://www.vqronline.org/page.php/prmID/2|title=About VQR|publisher=Virginia Quarterly Review|accessdate=2008-06-20] He established and was president of the Foundation for World Government from 1948 to 1958. In the 1950s he taught classics at Rutgers College in Newark, New Jersey. Two of his books, "The Will of Zeus" and "The Mask of Jove" deal with the Greeks and Romans, respectively. His nickname was "Winkie" ref|time.

In a 1951 "New York Post" column, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. mocked Barr as belonging to the "solve-the-Russian-problem-by-giving-them-money school," and said, of him and two others, "None of these gentlemen is a Communist, but none of them objects very much to Communism. They are the Typhoid Marys of the left, bearing the germs of the infection even if not suffering obviously from the disease."ref|navasky

In 1958, Barr said (ironically)::Many observers here and abroad note a kind of higher illiteracy in our college graduates. But we like it that way. In our cars we like horsepower; in our studies we like slow-motion and low-gear. In education the intellectually second-rate does not shock us. To insist on the first-rate would be arrogant. Anyhow, if we are so second-rate, how come we are the richest nation in recorded history and the fattest people on earth?In 1959, Barr was one of a number of signatories to a petition asking the U. S. Congress to abolish the House Committee on Unamerican Activities. Other notable signatories included Eleanor Roosevelt and Reinhold Niebuhr.

Barr was a multidimensional person who wrote "The Kitchen Garden Book" (New York: Viking Press, 1956) with Stella Standard. The "Kitchen Garden" is a manual on growing and cooking common vegetables.

"New York Times" reviewer Edmund Fuller called his 1958 novel, "Purely Academic," "bitterly hilarious," "sadistically satirical," and "funny and appalling." ref|fuller

Notes

# " [http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887097,00.html Colonist] ", Time Magazine, August 19, 1946.
# Navasky, Victor, 1980; "Naming Names"; p. 54 of the 2003 reprint by Hill and Wang; ISBN 0-8090-0183-7

References

#Barr, Stringfellow. "American National Biography". 2:222-224 (1999)
# Edward Fuller, "In the Groves of Academe Without a Compass," The New York Times January 5 1958, p. BR4

ee also

*Liberal Arts, Inc.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Barr (surname) — Barr is a Scottish surname, and may refer to:In real life: * Adam Barr, American television screenwriter and producer * Al Barr, lead singer of the Celtic punk band the Dropkick Murphys * Alfred Barr (1902–1981), art historian and the first… …   Wikipedia

  • St. John's College, U.S. — Infobox University name = St. John s College image size =135px motto = Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque ( I make free men from children by means of books and a balance ) established = 1696, King William s School 1784, St. John s College… …   Wikipedia

  • Liberal Arts, Inc. — Liberal Arts, Inc. was the name of an unsuccessful corporation founded in late 1946, which intended to create a Great Books based liberal arts college in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is notable for failing despite the involvement of four… …   Wikipedia

  • Canon occidental — El Parnaso representado por Rafael Sanzio en la Stanza della Segnatura del Vaticano (Roma, 1509). El dios Apolo se rodea de su corte de nueve musas, número que se repite en la selección de nueve poetas antiguos y nueve poetas modernos. Parte de… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Scott Buchanan — Scott Milross Buchanan (March 17, 1895 March 25, 1968) was an American educator, philosopher, and foundation consultant. He is best known as the founder of the Great Books program at St. John s College, at Annapolis, Maryland. [The same program… …   Wikipedia

  • banish — transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo French baniss , stem of banir, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German bannan to command more at ban Date: 14th century 1. to require by authority to leave a country 2 …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • spell — I. verb (spelled; spelling) Etymology: Middle English, to mean, signify, read by spelling out letters, from Anglo French espeleir, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English spellian to relate, spell talk Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Educational perennialism — Perennialists believe that one should teach the things that one deems to be of everlasting importance to all people everywhere. They believe that the most important topics develop a person. Since details of fact change constantly, these cannot be …   Wikipedia

  • Western canon — Dante, Homer and Virgil in Raphael s Parnassus fresco (1511), in which the Western canon is visualised The term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping… …   Wikipedia

  • Thomas Wolfe — This article is about the early 20th century writer. For the late 20th and early 21st century writer, see Tom Wolfe. For other people with similar names, see Thomas Wolf. Thomas Wolfe Wolfe in 1937, photo by Carl Van Vechten Born October …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”