Michael Bristol
1940 鈥� 2025
Michael was born on March 13, 1940 in Jersey City, New Jersey and graduated from Westfield High School in Westfield, NJ in 1958. He earned a B.A. from Yale University and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University, and then embarked upon a long and distinguished career as a Professor of English Literature and Shakespeare scholar. After a brief stint at the University of Illinois, Champaign, he settled into a tenured position at 涩里番.
Michael loved teaching in all its many facets, from inspiring undergraduates in introductory literature classes to mentoring graduate students and helping launch their careers in academia. He was a prolific writer, authoring many essays and papers as well three formative books on Shakespeare - Big Time Shakespeare (1996), Shakespeare's America / America's Shakespeare (1990), Carnival and Theatre: Plebian Culture and the Structure of Authority in Renaissance England (1985). He believed that Shakespeare had much to tell us about the early modern world but also about our own contemporary world and the power of words, writing and theatre. He was delighted to pass on his passion for Shakespeare and literature in general. After retiring, he continued writing and presenting at conferences, mentoring younger scholars, and connecting with his former students. He always loved receiving "Hey Professor Bristol!" messages via Facebook from former students who had stumbled upon his profile and wanted to let him know how his teaching impacted them.
From Michael Bristol's .
Academic profile
笔辞蝉颈迟颈辞苍:听Professor
Stream:听尝颈迟别谤补迟耻谤别
顿别驳谤别别(蝉):听
B.A. (Yale)
Ph.D. (Princeton)
础谤别补(蝉):听Renaissance literature; Shakespeare; Shakespeare and contemporary popular culture; questions of moral agency in Renaissance drama;听sociology of literature
Selected Publications:听
Books
- Big Time Shakespeare听(1996)
- Shakespeare's America / America's Shakespeare听(1990)
- Carnival and Theatre: Plebian Culture and the Structure of Authority in Renaissance England听(1985)
Articles and Chapters
- "Funeral Baked Meats: Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Hamlet," in听William Shakespeare: Hamlet Case Studies听(1994): 348-368.
- "Where Does Ideology Hang Out?" in听Shakespeare Right and Left听(1991): 31-43.
- "Chivarari and the Comedy of Abjection in听Othello," in听True Rites and Maimed Rites听(1992): 75-98.
- "In Search of the Bear: Spatio-Temporal Form and the Heterogeneity of Economies in听The Winter's Tale,"听Shakespeare Quarterly, 41 (Summer 1991): 145-68.
- "Lenten Butchery: Legitimation Crisis in Coriolanus," in听Shakespeare Reproduced: The Text in History and Ideology听(1987).
Awards, Honours, and Fellowships:听
- David Thomson Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision
Monica Popescu
1973-2024
The Department of English mourns the death of Professor and William Dawson Scholar of African Literatures, Monica Popescu.
This brilliant scholar joined the Department in 2005, upon earning her PhD from University of Pennsylvania in comparative literature and literary theory. In her too-short career, Monica authored of two award-winning monographs: At Penpoint: African Literatures, Postcolonial Studies, and the Cold War (2020) and South African Literature Beyond the Cold War (2010) 鈥� as well as countless articles and book chapters. As significantly, she was formative mentor to a generation of undergraduate and graduate students, and an advocate for decolonized research and teaching paradigms in the Department.
Beloved daughter, friend, and colleague, Monica passed away peacefully on February 24 after a year-long struggle with Grade 4 Glioblastoma.
May she rest in peace.
Tributes
My name is Sheila Giffen 鈥揑鈥檓 an instructor at Capilano University and I鈥檓 here to honour the memory of Dr. Monica Popescu, who passed away a couple weeks ago on February 24th. Monica was Professor and William Dawson Scholar of African Literatures in the Department of English at 涩里番, here in Montreal. Her research in African literatures, cold war studies, and world literature was field-defining, and she was a dedicated member of the ACLA, serving most recently as the chair of the Publications Committee.
But I knew Monica best as a brilliant teacher and advisor 鈥搘hose commitment to student mentorship was remarkably generous. I first met Monica fifteen years ago when I took her postcolonial literature class as an undergraduate at 涩里番. I went on to work as her Research Assistant (which included traveling with her to visit archives in South Africa). And later, when I was completing my PhD at UBC, she joined my dissertation committee. Monica taught me how to be a scholar 鈥揻rom archival methods and editorial work, to pedagogy and intellectual rigour. But most importantly, Monica taught me how to be a good mentor.
Monica鈥檚 classes were the best: working across different geographic contexts and creative forms, she traced the resistant tactics of writers from South Africa, Ghana, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and more. Working as her RA, I recall Monica reflecting on the inspiration behind her first book project, South African Literature Beyond the Cold War. During her PhD at UPenn, Monica took a seminar on South African literatures. Reflecting on her own upbringing in Soviet-era Romania, she started to notice how anti-apartheid writers and activists were inspired by the cultural imaginary of the Russian revolution. Monica鈥檚 research would continue tracking the complex politics of Cold War history across the Global South.
This work was grounded in a deep engagement with material histories and archival methods. I assisted Monica with archival research in Cape Town and Johannesburg and witnessed how she would comb through historical documents and author correspondence. As soon as the archives closed, it would be time to visit an art gallery, take a city tour, meet with friends, enjoy an excellent meal. Monica took great care to maintain connections with people and she delighted in lively conversation and laughter. When I returned to South Africa years later to do my own archival work, I modeled my trip on the example she set.
Monica was an endlessly supportive mentor and teacher: one time she workshopped a grant application with me line by line, another time she confessed that she鈥檇 stayed up until 2am trying to write the best possible reference letter for a student. She championed student work and took great care to include students in conferences and workshops with visiting scholars. When Monica joined my dissertation committee, her steadfast encouragement filled me with confidence because I knew she would always be in my corner.
Monica was incredibly hard-working and also knew how to live well. She loved her family and friends deeply and was enlivened by her connections with people. She taught me how to how to be an intellectual鈥攈ow to do my work in a rigorous and thoughtful way鈥攂ut also how to live an intellectual life that is joyful and fulfilling. For me, remembering Monica means acknowledging with fullness how much I鈥檓 indebted to her mentorship and example. I can鈥檛 believe she gave me the opportunity to research, to travel, and to connect with people in the way that she did and I feel so lucky to have known her. I will miss her warmth, her brilliance, her joy, and her generosity of spirit.
- Dr. Sheila Giffen, Instructor at Capilano University and former student and research assistant of Monica
Monica Popescu, Professor and William Dawson Scholar of African Literatures in the Department of English at 涩里番, began a different journey on February 24, 2024. A leading voice in African and Cold War literary studies, her most recent monograph, At Penpoint (2020), won numerous prestigious awards, including an honorable mention for the MLA鈥檚 Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies. Her ongoing projects at the time of her death reflected her continued commitment to comparative literature and the comparative method. She was working on at least three books, including a monograph on the rise of the world literature paradigm, a scholarly biography of Ng农g末 wa Thiong'o, and an edited collection on the Global South. Monica was also a dedicated member of the ACLA, serving on its board as chair of the Publications Committee. Under her leadership, the committee adjudicated the Helen Tartar First Book Subvention Award and held workshops on publishing first (and then second) books. Monica demonstrated her dedication to the success of junior faculty working on comparative literature through her work with the ACLA.
Always an advocate and devoted mentor to her students, Monica is remembered for introducing them to all aspects of research, at home and also abroad in South African archives. Teaching students to read across diverse geographies, Monica's comparative approach illuminated the cross cultural influence of a Soviet imaginary in South Africa. Raised in Romania, Monica was uniquely positioned to retrieve the weave of Soviet and postcolonial entanglement and to follow it in the archive as in its literary manifestations.
Thanks go to Victoria-Oana Lapascu and Sheila Giffen for this tribute.
- American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Newsletter, April 2024
Academic profile
Position:听Professor, William Dawson Scholar of African Literatures
Stream:听尝颈迟别谤补迟耻谤别,听Cultural Studies
Specialization by geographical area:听Africa
Specialization by time period:听20迟丑-颁别苍迟耻谤测,听颁辞苍迟别尘辫辞谤补谤测
Degree(s):
Ph.D. (University of Pennsylvania)
M.A. (Windsor)
B.A., M.A. (Bucharest)
础谤别补(蝉):听fiction, archives & bibliography, critical theory, history & theory of the novel, identity & representation, post/anti/decolonial studies
Books:听
听(Duke University Press, 2020)
Winner of the Book of the Year Award-Scholarship (African Literature Association); Honourable Mention, Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies (Modern Language Association); CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title
Listen to on At Penpoint
听(Palgrave, 2010)
Winner of the Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities
The Politics of Violence in Post-Communist Films听(Concordia, 1999)
Edited Volumes:
Book Series co-editor for the , with Katherine Zien and Sandeep Banerjee
. Co-editor (with Kerry Bystrom and Katherine Zien), 2020.
African Literary History and the Cold War. Special issue of Research in African Literatures. Co-editor (with Bhakti Shringarpure). 50.3 (Fall 2019).
Alternative Solidarities: Black Diasporas and Cultural Alliances during the Cold War. Special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing. Co-editor (with Cedric Tolliver and Julie Tolliver). 50.4 (2014).
Articles and Chapters:
鈥淐old War Solidarities and Twenty-First-Century Frayed Alliances: Romanian-Ghanaian Vantage Points.鈥� Comparative Literature Studies. Forthcoming Fall 2022.
鈥淎fro-Asian Internationalism: Leftist Solidarities during the Cold War.鈥� PMLA 136.5 (October 2021): 800-808.
"Introduction: The Cultural Cold War and the Global South: Sites of Contest and Communitas." Co-authored with Kerry Bystrom and Katherine Zien. The Cultural Cold War and the Global South: Sites of Contest and Communitas. Co-edited with Kerry Bystrom and Katherine Zien). New York, Routledge, 2021, 1-25.
鈥淭he Battle of Conferences: Cultural Decolonisation and Global Cold War.鈥� The Palgrave Handbook to Cold War Literature. Ed. Andrew Hammond. Cham, Switzerland: Plagrave, 2020, 163-82.
鈥淚ntroduction: African Literature and the Cold War. What Is at Stake?鈥� Special issue on African Literary History and the Cold War. Research in African Literatures. Eds. Monica Popescu and Bhakti Shringarpure. 50.3 (Fall 2019).
鈥溾�楥hildren of the Cold War鈥�: Rethinking African Literary Generations through the Global Conflict.鈥� The Routledge Handbook of African Literature. Eds. Moradewun Adejunmobi and Carli Coetzee. New York: Routledge, 2019, 21-34.
鈥淩evolutionary Times: Mongane Wally Serote and Cold War Fiction.鈥� South African Writing in Transition. Eds. Rita Barnard and Andrew van der Vlies. London: Bloomsbury, 2019, 33-54.
鈥淭ransnational Dimensions in Nelson Mandela鈥檚 Autobiographical Writing.鈥� JELL: Journal of English Language and Literature 62.1 (2016): 35-53.
"Nelson Mandela." Co-authored with Rita Barnard. Mental Maps in the Era of Detente and the End of the Cold War, 1968-1991. Eds. Steven Casey and Jonathan Wright. New York: Plagrave, 2015. 236-49.
鈥淥n the Margins of the Black Atlantic: Angola, the Second World, and the Cold War.鈥� Research in African Literatures. Special Issue on Africa and the Black Atlantic. 45.3 (2014): 91-109.
鈥淎esthetic Solidarities: Ngugi wa Thiong鈥檕 and the Cold War.鈥� Journal of Postcolonial Writing 50.4 (2014): 384-397.
鈥淲ar Room Stories and the Rainbow Nation: Competing Narratives in Contemporary South African Literature.鈥� National Myths: Constructed Pasts, Contested Presents. Ed. Gerard Bouchard. London: Routledge, 2013. 191-205.
鈥淟ewis Nkosi in Warsaw: Translating Eastern European Experiences for an African Audience.鈥� Journal of Postcolonial Writing 48.2 (May 2012). 178-89.
鈥淩eading through a Cold War Lens: Apartheid-Era Literature and the Global Conflict.鈥� Current Writing 24.1 (May 2012): 37-49.
鈥淭ranslations: Lenin鈥檚 Statues, Post-communism and Post-apartheid.鈥� Marginal Spaces: Ivan Vladislavi膰. Ed. Gerald Gaylard. Wits University Press, 2011.
Reprint of: 鈥淭ranslations: Lenin鈥檚 Statues, Post-communism and Post-apartheid.鈥� The Yale Journal of Criticism 16.2 (2003): 407-423.
鈥淰oortrekkers of the Cold War: Enacting the South African Past and Present in Mark Behr鈥檚 The Smell of Apples.鈥� Settler and Creole Reenactment. Eds. Jonathan Lamb and Vanessa Agnew. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 123-137.
Reworked version of: 鈥淢irrorings: Communists, Capitalists and Voortrekkers of the Cold War.鈥� Beyond the Border War: New Perspectives on Southern Africa鈥檚 Late-Cold War Conflicts. Eds. Peter Vale and Gary Baines. Pretoria: UNISA, 2008. 42-55.
鈥淲aiting for the Russians: Coetzee鈥檚 The Master of Petersburgand the Logic of Late Post-colonialism.鈥� Postcolonialism: South/African Perspectives. Ed. Michael Chapman. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008. 106-24.
Reprint of: 鈥淲aiting for the Russians: Coetzee鈥檚 The Master of Petersburg and the Logic of Late Post-colonialism.鈥� Current Writing. 19.1 (April 2007): 1-20.
鈥淟icence for Shooting: South African Literature, the Media, and the Cold War.鈥� Scrutiny2: Issues in English Studies in Southern Africa 13.1 (2008): 92-104.
鈥淚maging the Past: Cultural Memory in Dubravka Ugre拧i膰鈥檚 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender.鈥� Studies in the Novel. 39.3 (Fall 2007): 336-56.
鈥淐old War and Hot Translation.鈥� Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies. 8.1 (January 2007): 83-90.
鈥淐ultural Liminality and Hybridity: The Romanian Transition.鈥�听Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers. The Paradoxes of Progress: Globalization and Postsocialist Cultures. (Special Issue). 86 (Fall 2001). 47-68.
鈥淲riting in and Writing out鈥擱ace and Ethnicity in The Sound and the Fury.鈥� Transatlantic Connections: Essays in Cultural Relocation. Ed. R. Mihaila and I. Pana, Bucuresti: Integral, 2000, 49-62.
鈥淟iminal Space in the Post-colonial Context.鈥� Studii de Limbi si Literaturi Moderne. Timisoara: Mirton, 1999, 130-38.
鈥淥n the Borderline: Liminal Aspects in Malouf鈥檚 Fiction.鈥� Bulletin of the Transilvania University 6.41 (1999): 173-79.
Reviews and Public Scholarship:
鈥�.鈥� Warscapes. December 27, 2018.
Republished as: 鈥溾�� The Mantle. April 25, 2019.
Berfrois. August 29, 2013.
Republished in abridged form as: Africa Is a Country.
Awards, honours, and fellowships:
- Visiting Scholar, New York University, Department of English, Spring 2019
- , The Met Breuer, New York, 2019
- for听, 2012
- Resident Faculty Fellow, Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas, 2013-2015
- ,University of Cambridge (jointly with Visiting Fellowship, Wolfson College), Easter Term 2012
- SSHRC Insight Grant, 2012-2016
- Fonds qu茅b茅cois de la recherche sur la soci茅t茅 et la culture,听脡tablissement de nouveaux professeurs-chercheurs,听2008-2011
- Delta Kappa Gamma International Fellowship for Women Researchers
- Open Society Institute, Global Supplementary Grant
- Dean鈥檚 Scholar, University of Pennsylvania
Denis Salter
1949 鈥� 2022
Denis joined the Drama and Theatre Division of the English Department at 涩里番 in the mid-1980s. As a dedicated scholar and teacher, he cared deeply about impeccable research and writing, fostering collaboration and collegiality within and outside of academia鈥揳nd encouraging students to do the same鈥搒upporting local theatre companies in Montreal and across the country, and, above all else, practicing good pedagogy.
More on Denis
Denis loved teaching and was always up for taking on new challenges, even towards the end of his career. He was especially proud of some of the courses he taught during his final years at 涩里番 related to political and Indigenous theatre, informed and enriched by his work with alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage magazine over the years, working closely with dear colleagues who, like many others he met through the world of theatre, became lifelong friends. An innovative and caring teacher, he said his last semester of teaching, before retiring in 2021, was especially wonderful, despite Zoom! Shortly before retiring, he had the honour of receiving the Canadian Association for Theatre Research Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on Canadian theatre and 鈥渆xtensive scholarship celebrating the history and character of theatre in Canada鈥�, exploring themes of 鈥渕ulticulturalism and diversity, indigeneity, and gender in both historical and theoretical contexts.鈥�
From .
Having studied at UBC and the University of Toronto in the 1970s, Dr. Salter witnessed the blossoming of Canadian drama, and he contributed to this 鈥渉uge cultural epistemological shift鈥� through production reviews, an edited collection of Canadian plays, and extensive scholarship celebrating the history and character of theatre in Canada. In addition to his work on Canadian theatre, Dr. Salter鈥檚 scholarship reflects his interest in Shakespeare and Canadian adaptations thereof, as well as concerns of social justice and politics. His articles explore multiculturalism and diversity, indigeneity, and gender in both historical and theoretical contexts.
Dr. Salter has worked with alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage since 2006, serving as Editor-in-Chief for several years, where he continues to champion Canadian theatre and scholarship. He is a two-time winner of the Richard Plant Best Essay Prize, and an active contributor to the Canadian Association for Theatre Research. In addition, he sat on the editorial board for Theatre Research in Canada/Recherches th茅芒trales au Canada for 22 years, from 1993 to 2015.
Over the course of his career, he has explored the cracks and sought the light across a wide range of research interests鈥攖easing out interconnections, and using the security of his position as a tenured academic to advocate for others, to shed light on artists, authors, students, and thinkers whose work might not otherwise be seen or heard.
From the citation for his
Tributes
From Professor Erin Hurley:
If Denis was always a pedagogue willing to share his findings, his ruminations, his keywords, his theatrical ephemera, he was also always a student 鈥� curious, inventive, resourceful. His incredible teaching and learning in Indigenous drama and theatre that made such a huge 鈥� and already much missed 鈥� contribution to our department and the Drama & Theatre curriculum is but one example of his example of commitment to social justice in and through theatre and to lifelong learning.
.
Harry Anderson
Harry Anderson taught in the Department of English at 涩里番 from the 1960s until the mid 1990s. He was a cherished and respected colleague. Some of Harry's courses included Medieval Drama Workshop, and Directing for the Theatre. In Medieval Drama Workshop, students would immerse themselves in the production of a medieval play - each student taking part as either an actor, stage manager, designer, or technician. Students were dedicated to him, with good reason.
Harry was a director who valued the script. He took on the classics - The Miser (1986), Doctor Faustus (1986), The Second Shepherd鈥檚 Play (1990),听The Castle of Perseverance (1994), and finally, King Lear (1995). As a mentor, Harry supported Delia D鈥橢rmo's direction of Gingerbread Lady (1988).
Harry was a great conversationalist, whether it was about a particular work of literature or about his life in the States before he moved to Canada.
Harry was a director who valued the script. He took on the classics - The Miser (1986), Doctor Faustus (1986), The Second Shepherd鈥檚 Play (1990),听The Castle of Perseverance (1994), and finally, King Lear (1995). As a mentor, Harry supported Delia D鈥橢rmo's direction of Gingerbread Lady (1988).
Tributes
Sue Williams arrived at 涩里番 in 1974 to do her PhD. She became a lifelong friend of Harry and his family and had this to say about Harry:
The story I heard about how Harry ended up at 涩里番 goes as follows: he and Micky were living in Philadelphia while Harry was doing his PhD at Temple University, and his friend Alan Goldberg got a job offer from 涩里番, which was hiring a lot of new (and largely American) instructors at that point. Alan said 鈥淲hy don't you come too? There are jobs for the asking here.鈥� So Harry, Micky, Eric, who was about 10, and three- week-old Alex arrived in Montreal to take up a job in the 涩里番 Department of English department (their third son, Michael, was born a couple of years after that). Harry's office was invariably crowded with people who may or may not have been actually taking his courses, but who wanted to ask his advice about everything from their future careers to their financial problems, how to deal with a difficult landlord or whether to break up with a girlfriend. He could be a stern taskmaster - he didn't suffer lame excuses about missed deadlines, and he consistently pushed his students to undertake things we didn't think we could do. I think his greatest quality as a teacher was his ability to listen. You came away from an advising session with Harry feeling not only that your concerns had been fully considered, but inspired to try the new things he thought you were capable of. It's that warmth and genuine interest in each student as an individual that I remember best about Harry as a teacher.
Angela Alston听(B.A., 1991) wrote:
I was a student at 涩里番 in the Department of English, Drama and Theatre option. As a young woman of color, there were not many role models or mentors for me at that time, but when I found myself in Harry Anderson's class in my second year all that changed.
Harry was a joyous man who enjoyed a good debate, a good laugh and saw the potential in many. His office door was always open to me, to discuss my studies, my worries and my ambitions. He encouraged me and showed me that having a creative life had many aspects to it, that you could find a way to express yourself on stage, in print or in conversation. He taught me that no one should ever mask their intelligence, that to question is to learn and that education is a never ending path.
I had the honor of taking numerous classes with Harry, sharing many cups of cocoa in his office (he had a stash in his drawer seemingly waiting for me to enjoy), he never tired of my countless questions or my insecurities, he was critical but fair, supportive and honest - he was by far, the best teacher I have ever had and I was happy that our relationship continued past graduation and that I could call him my friend.
I am confident that many of his students felt the same way - his openness, interest and joy of his work and students was obvious. He was a great talent and his imprint on many will endure.
From Catherine Bradley:听
I feel compelled to add my personal recollection of Harry Anderson. It pertains to reverence for the text. Harry directed King Lear in 1995. Often a first meeting with cast and crew is a table reading of the script. Not so in this particular case. Our first meeting with cast and crew was to transfer Harry's script cuts into our paper scripts. The goal, or so I thought, was purely logistical - to cross out enough text to achieve a running time of under three hours.听
Each actor, technician, and section head dutifully crossed out the words that Harry read aloud. He read his script cuts in a clear voice with no attempt to impress or perform. He didn't skip anything - he read every word that would be excised from the script - and this went on for a very long time. There was complete concentration during the process. At the end of the session, I told Harry how moving I had found his reading of Shakespeare's words - the ones that our actors would never speak, and our audience never hear.
Harry's answer? "That was exactly the point."
From Professor Paul Yachnin:
I am very sorry to hear this news. My first memory of Harry is from a Department reception when I was a first-year undergraduate. He was talking vehemently with a colleague. I do not remember who. They were arguing about evolution. His interlocutor was a strict Darwinian. Harry was arguing from a lamarckian POV. I didn't know what that was, so I was listening off to the side quietly and intently. Harry was my best introduction to the department because he demonstrated by his boundless intellectual curiosity and collegiality how open the department was to ideas of all kinds. I'm very sad to hear that Harry has left us.
From Professor Dorothy Bray:听
I am deeply saddened and moved by this news. Harry was a wonderful colleague; he was kind and supportive to students, yet also to faculty (certainly to this junior faculty member back in the late 90s). Although I didn鈥檛 know him well, he made me feel like a friend; my closest encounter was when he was preparing King Lear and he asked me about the early Celtic background to the story (so, surprisingly, I ended up as a casual consultant). He was funny, engaging, and erudite; I respected him highly as a scholar (and a gentleman), and liked him enormously as a person. May his memory be a blessing.
