Standing Eagle Comes Home to Roost
Posted on June 3rd, 2008 in Uncategorized |
One of the most prolific and provocative posters on this blog has finally unmasked himself: Standing Eagle is James von der Heydt, a former senior tutor at Winthrop House, resident tutor in Lowell House, and lecturer on history and literature.
A summa cum laude Princeton grad with a Harvard Ph.D. in English, Jim is now a teacher of English at Phillips Exeter Academy.
Why does he reveal himself now? Well, he wanted to put some distance between himself and Harvard before so doing.
Pseudonymity is not airtight! and my persona here has often been obnoxious.
True dat! But this blogger and many SITD readers have appreciated Jim’s/Standing Eagle’s comments even when they were, well, a little obnoxious. More often they were intelligent and thought-provoking, and helped to generate or fuel countless conversations on this blog and, I would like to think, elsewhere.
Jim notes that he is also the author of At the Brink of Infinity: Poetic Humility in Boundless American Space, a mere $34.50 on Amazon (not so bad for a scholarly book).
From popular culture to politics to classic novels, quintessentially American texts take their inspiration from the idea of infinity. In the extraordinary literary century inaugurated by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the lyric too seemed to encounter possibilities as limitless as the U.S. imagination. This raises the question: What happens when boundlessness is more than just a figure of speech? Exploring new horizons is one thing, but actually looking at the horizon itself is something altogether different. In this carefully crafted analysis, James von der Heydt shines a new light on the lyric craft of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and James Merrill and considers how their seascape-vision redefines poetry’s purpose.
That is probably over my head, but sounds quite impressive.
Two questions, Jim. Where did Standing Eagle come from? (In both the literal and the existential sense.)
And are you also the James Von Der Heydt who wrote Mother Sawtooth’s Nome: A Novel of Alaskan History?
In any case, I hope that we can expect many more posts from Standing Eagle in the days and weeks ahead….
12 Responses
Actually, I no longer teach at Exeter.
The other James von der Heydt, author of Mother Sawtooth’s Nome, is my uncle, James A. von der Heydt, federal judge in Alaska. There’s also James R. von der Heydt, retired Ralston executive, of St. Louis, who’s arriving here on a visit in 15 minutes.
Why reveal myself now? Actually, it just got to the point of Why not?
Hey Richard, why not post some of the other praise rather than the summary? I VERY much like the part about the book being commensurate with Cavell’s work. A great and original scholar, Cavell.
To the vineyards! For toiling.
SE/ Jim
Also, the Facebook page has better pictures than the Exeter links.
Oops — meant to say that James A., in Anchorage, is my great-uncle; James R. is my uncle.
Sorry, Jim. Should I ask what you’re up to at the moment?
Whoops-make that, sorry, SE.
Marketing my book, of course! and gearing up to teach English. Also I’m working on a chapter for a “Dickinson and Philosophy” book.
Moreover, I have three very small daughters. So I’m not cooling my heels exactly!
Where are all the links *I* chose? Surely at Fairfield they’ll let you pick your own biographical details!
Good luck tomorrow — I’m off for afternoon frolic.
Jim
PS. Winthropians: congratulations on graduation!
I just can’t keep up, SE. Writing my commencement speech.
Teaching English where, if not at Exeter?
omigod …a lovefest
Made my eyes cross on many occasions and infuriated me on many others but a great contributor, nonetheless.
Richard, I’m surprised you ask where JvdH’s pseudonym “Standing Eagle” comes from. Most of us have known for ages that it’s from a short poem by Tennyson.
Here’s the text:
THE EAGLE
FRAGMENT
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
(1851)
As I mentioned a year or so ago, the final word (”falls) indicates that the eagle swoops down on his prey.
Thanks for your congratulations, Jim. Your final cohort of sophomores will miss you tomorrow morning. (Or, rather, in four hours.)