Professor of English
Office: Boyer House 211
Telephone: (509) 527-4964
Fax: (509) 527-5093
E-mail:
desmond@whitman.edu
Professor John F. Desmond came to Whitman College after receiving his M.A. and Ph.D. in English in 1971 from the University of Oklahoma, and his Ph.B. in English (Magna cum Laude) from the University of Detroit in 1960. Before coming to Whitman, he taught American Literature and Southern Literature at Ohio University.
His teaching areas include American Literature, Southern Literature, Modern Irish Literature, and the American Short Story. He has taught special topics courses on Robert Lowell and Robert Frost, William Faulkner, Women Writers of the South, Literature of the Apocalypse, Ethical Themes in Literature, and the Literature of Confinement. He regularly teaches American Literature 1865-1914, and American Literature 1914-Present.
His research interests include the literature of the Modern South, modern Irish poetry, and ethical and religious themes in 20th century writers. He has published three books: A Still Moment:Essays on the Art of Eudora Welty (Editor and Contributor, 1978); Risen Sons: Flannery's O'Connor's Vision of History (1987); and At the Crossroads: Ethical and Religious Themes in the Writings of Walker Percy (1997). He has published numerous articles on William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, Mark Twain, Eudora Welty, Graham Greene, Bernard Malamud, Don Delillo, and Seamus Heaney. He is founder and president of The Walker Percy Society; he serves on the Board of Advisors for the Flannery O'Connor Society, and the editorial board of Literature and Belief. He is currently serving on the executive committee of the Society for the Study of Southern Literature.
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