Doctorow Will Speak Tomorrow

Any disappointment E.L. Doctorow aficionados harbored can dissipate with the rain: the Department of English and American Literature and Language announced last week that the Morris Gray Lecture, featuring Doctorow and originally postponed until the fall, will occur tomorrow.

The Morris Gray Lecture Fund finances one lecture each fall and spring, to be given by a speaker who “is an accomplished writer of a certain distinction whose work would be of interest to the community,” said Professor of English Peter Sacks. Established in 1929, the fund typically brings poets and fiction writers and past speakers have included T.S. Eliot ’10.

Doctorow’s reading was previously scheduled to happen two weeks ago, but due to scheduling conflicts with the author’s publishing deadlines, had to be delayed. The department’s May schedule was very full and it decided to add Doctorow to the two other speakers on next year’s roster.

Following further discussion with Doctorow, however, the selection committee for the lecture series rescheduled his appearance, said Staff Assistant and Event Coordinator Jeffrey M. Berg. “After canceling, Mr. Doctorow expressed sincere interest that he wanted to speak in the spring as originally planned,” Berg said. “We’re pleased to announce that he will be joining us after all.”

Author of “Billy Bathgate” and other acclaimed fiction works, Doctorow is currently the Glucksman Professor in American Letters and Professor of English at New York University.

He has received many honors, including the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Speakers are selected by faculty members. Sacks, Department Chair James Engell, and Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric Jorie Graham comprised this year’s selection committee.

The lecture has been cancelled twice in the past two years. Nobel laureate John M. Coetzee, originally the speaker for last spring, cancelled due to personal reasons. Two years ago, the department withdrew an invitation to Tom Paulin after the poet’s alleged anti-Israel comments provoked controversy on campus.

Speakers that do arrive on campus sign the Morris Gray Lecture book, and this will not be the first time Doctorow’s signature graces the pages.

According to Berg, Doctorow’s first visit under the lecture series was in 1991.

“I think it’s great that he’s coming back,” said Department Administrator Anna C. McDonald. “I know a lot of people have been looking forward to him coming.”

Doctorow’s reading will take place tomorrow at 6 p.m. in the Lamont Forum Room in Lamont Library, and is free for the public.