Remembering Marty Shapiro — When I became a member of the English Department in 1984, many of the faculty members who had built the Department in the 1960s were still teaching, including Morton (Marty) Shapiro. Marty joined the English Department in 1964 and continued to teach in the department until he retired in 1993.
I have many fond memories of Marty. I remember talking with him about his childhood in New York City. My father grew up in New York around the same time period, and this connection led me to feel a sense of kinship with Marty. He was an avid lover of films, and I occasionally ran into him at the Manor Theater where we would talk a bit about whatever film we had just seen. Marty helped found the Charlotte Film Society, and he sometimes shared with me news of the Film Society’s doings. Marty was proud of his children, Sam and Julie, and he liked to talk about them. I struck up a friendship with Sam, and Marty seemed pleased that his son and I were friends The last time I saw Marty was at Park Road Books quite some years ago, but I remember talking with him about a course that Sam was teaching for the American Studies Program. I was the director of the program at the time, and Marty liked the fact that Sam was teaching at the same university where he had pursued his teaching career for nearly thirty years. When I learned that Marty had died on September 11, I contacted several faculty members who also knew Marty and asked them about their memories of Marty.
In her email to me, Boyd Davis wrote, “Marty Shapiro liked good books, good films, and good talk, which he defined as being wit and crackle about good books and good films. He was passionate about his field, American Literature, and especially concerned that students work first to become critical and thoughtful readers of primary source material before doing anything else.”
Jay Jacoby wrote about Marty’s tastes in food and literature: “Marty and I did not always have the same tastes for food (he loathed my gefilte fish balls suspended in horseradish gelatin–go figure, right? We both liked, and dined together at, Katz’s Deli in NYC–famous for its “Send a salami to your boy in the army”) or literature (I never understood his liking Henry James or Saul Bellow). We did enjoy many of the same films and, in my early days at UNCC, playing tennis at the old JCC on Sharon Amity. It was good to have a landsman in the department, someone to say Happy New Year to every fall and to exchange Hanukkah at the department Holiday parties.”
Anita Moss wrote about Marty’s approach to teaching: “When I was a young instructor in the English Department in 1972, Marty was exceptionally kind and generous to me. He invited me to sit in on his classes if we happened to be teaching the same texts. Once in the summer he was teaching American Literature, and I was teaching British literature, but we were both exploring the Victorian period. Marty invited me and my class to join him and his class on a field trip to a lovely Victorian home on The Plaza, named “Victoria.” The home-owners gave us a well-informed tour, but I was delighted with how much Marty knew and shared about architecture and interior design of the period. As other colleagues have mentioned, Marty loved classical music, but I remember how we shared our enthusiasm for great jazz singers–Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, Lena Horne, and the much younger singer, Chris Connor. Marty did not enjoy tedious meetings, but he came alive when the talk was about literature, art, or music. Then he became animated with his vital interests in ideas and art. I am glad that I knew him and that he shared his interests with colleagues, friends, and students for so many years.”
Paula Eckard took a course from Marty as an undergraduate student, and she sent me an email about this experience: “As a young undergraduate in Marty Shapiro’s Major American Writers course, I was introduced to many of the writers that I teach today. I took his class, which met in Winningham, during a hot summer school session. I recall the course being equally intense, especially when we discussed Melville. One day I was late for class after running out of gas at the intersection of Highways 29 and 49. I was fearing my professor’s wrath when I finally got to class. Instead he responded with kindness and humor, something I had not expected. Since then, I’ve tried to treat students with the same positive regard that he showed to me.”
Marty’s family will have a visitation on Wednesday, October 7, and the clubhouse of Quail Hollow Estates, from 5:30pm until 7:30 pm. The address is 7301 Quail Meadow Lane, Charlotte, NC 28210. Here is the link to an obituary: http://www.throbertson.com/index.php/2014-12-25-20-56-36/299-morton-shapiro-september-11-2015
Kudos— As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department. Here is the latest news:
Aaron Gwyn‘s Wynne’s War was recently published in France. The novel has received very positive reviews from the French press including a glowing review in Le Monde. For those of you who read French, here is the link: : http://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2015/09/24/westerns-sans-frontieres_4769426_3260.html.
Joan Mullin, along with Jan Rieman and Cat Mahaffey from the University Writing Program, recently gave a presentation titled “Practicing What We Preach: Growing Pains of a Stand Alone Unit” at a meeting of the Carolina Writing Program Administrators.
Kristen Reynolds, one of our graduate students, received a 2015-16 Graduate Life Fellowship.
Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:
Quirky Quiz Question — Marty Shapiro grew up in New York City, but he moved to the South after serving in the Army during the early 1950s. He received his Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Alabama. Does anybody know the name of the city where the University of Alabama is located?
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is published by Algonquin Books. Although Algonquin Books is now a division of Workman Publishing, the editorial office is still located in the same community where the publisher was founded in 1983. Where is Algonquin Books located?
