Professor Lance Bertelsen is a World Lit professor who specializes in eighteenth-century British literature and culture. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1969 and from the University of Washington in 1979. A year later, he came to UT (mainly because of the weather) and has mostly taught Plan II classes since then. His outside interests include surfing, rock and roll, and World War II. In the following interview, Professor Bertelsen discusses his interests, Plan II, an alternate career and the hypocrisy of major college sports.
What was your favorite part of going through college?
The freedom, the people, the general learning experience both in and out of class.
So were you a rebel in college and if so, do you think any part of that has carried over into your current life?
Depends on how you define rebel. I turned down a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army after I became convinced that the Vietnam war was wrong–but in that period that might have been considered more mainstream than rebellious. I did the usual counterculture things, both in college and in the Army–and afterwards I drifted around the country for a number of years before getting a steady job and starting the path toward grad school.
So why become a professor?
I liked college a lot and wanted to figure out a way to never leave it. Being a professor seemed the only answer. I also liked reading and writing about literature and history, so being an academic seemed a natural progression.
So what would you do if you were not a professor?
I have no idea what I’d do if I weren’t a professor. At one time, I thought that if I didn’t get a tenure track job out of grad school I’d sell real estate, but I imagine I would have ended up eventually in some kind of teaching situation.
How come you decided on real estate as an alternate career to being a professor (however miniscule the chance was that you would not teach)?
I didn’t really think of it as an alternative career at all. I thought of it as a good way to make money if I didn’t manage to get a tenure track job at a decent institution which then and now is a very difficult thing to do. Ask around in Liberal Arts about the tenure track placement percentages for our various grad programs. I already had a family-2 kids-and had been in grad school for 5 years; Seattle was in a real estate boom. It seemed logical at the time.
Your focus as a professor is on 18th century British literature and culture. Can you explain why exactly you decided to focus on that specific aspect of literature?
It was a roundabout process. In high school I’d done a term paper on William Hogarth, the 18c painter, and liked that, but in college I was more interested in modern literature. Once I went back to grad school I thought I’d do modern American (Hemingway, Lost Generation, etc.), but I didn’t like the heavy emphasis on theory then in vogue in that sub-discipline. I happened to take an 18c course my first semester from the person who ended up directing my dissertation. He did such a great job that I became convinced this was a period and a literature I wanted to know more about. I actually ended up publishing work on Hogarth as a professor.
You also focus on World War II. Is there one specific aspect of World War II that interests you the most?
Attempts to represent combat, which seems to me basically incapable of representation. I’m interested both in what actual combat must feel like-impossible to know unless you’ve been there-and how people who have been there try to make it accessible to others in articles, books, films, etc.
In terms of non-university interests, I know that you like to surf. How did you get interested in surfing?
I was living in S. California in the early 60′s when surfing exploded into the mainstream due to the movie Gidget and the advent of lightweight foam surfboards. In 1961, just about all the guys I knew were learning to surf because it was considered cool–some kept it up, some didn’t. I surfed from 1961 to 1966, but then went east to school and really didn’t begin surfing again until 1995.
How often do you surf considering that Austin is at least 3-4 hours away from the coast?
Depends on the surf and my schedule. I’ve got computer access to wave forecasts and surf cams on the Texas coast, so if it looks like the surf is coming up, I’ll try to see how those days fit with my work schedule, and if I can go, I will. Usually this happens no more than once a month–every now and then I’ll make it twice in a month, but in the summer (when it is usually flat) and the winter (cold) I may not go for several months. I also get back to California now and then–and have surfed a few times in Hawaii, and once even in France.
What are your favorite hobbies besides surfing?
I collect old children’s books and a few other kinds of books, but not in a real serious way. These days I’m more focused on my daughter’s activities, so I guess being a soccer Dad, etc., is kind of a hobby.
On the subject of books, I know you keep saying that Paradise Lost is your favorite novel. Any reason for that besides the enormity of the subject matter that Milton addresses?
Epic poem, not a novel. Written in blank verse. It’s not what he writes about, it’s how he writes it. He says he is going to fly higher and longer than any poet before him, and he pulls it off: amazing scenes in amazing verse that still put anything in modern sci-fi or plain old action and adventure to shame, and all this while also addressing the most major (and continuing) problems and questions of Christianity. And he was blind when he did it. He says God or the “heavenly muse” wrote it in his head each night as he slept; and depending where you stand on the idea of God sometimes it seems like that might be true.
On the subject of Plan II, why teach Plan II classes? What makes them more appealing to teach than regular literature classes?
Small seminars full of smart students–doesn’t get much better than that. I like teaching regular lit classes for other reasons: mainly that all the students in them are usually English majors, so more intrinsically interested in the material.
Why do you think it is important for students to have a Plan II education? And same for world literature…
I’m not sure it’s more important than many other programs and possible trajectories at UT. But for students who want something like the feel of a small elite liberal arts college inside a big university, it’s a great program. I think E603AB is especially important for Plan II students who are very career oriented, esp. in the sciences, business, and engineering, and wouldn’t otherwise have much immersion in the traditional humanities subjects.
What do you like most about Plan II students as compared to non-Plan II students?
I like the energy and potential of Plan II freshmen. They could turn out to be practically anything from a famous writer to the governor of Texas. I suppose that is true of non-Plan II’s as well, but the drive and ambition doesn’t usually seem as evident.
What is one thing about you that people would find surprising?
I suppose it would be that I feel that learning about literature and how to read it is really a hedonistic experience rather than an intellectual or moral or ethical one. I think of it like learning a sport. Trying to play tennis or surf or whatever is pretty miserable and frustrating when you first begin, but the more you practice and learn the more fun and intricate the sport becomes. Same is true of being, say, a wine connoisseur or a musician. Things that at first seem hard and off-putting (like Paradise Lost or a backhand shot or some expensive wines) become with experience and practice sources of incredibly refined pleasure that only those who have mastered the art can experience. Hasn’t got much to do with morality; has a lot to do with pleasure.
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
This may fit under number 16, but I think we should stop being hypocrites and make football (and maybe basketball and baseball) a major. It has a complex history, large literature (fiction and non-fiction), a film archive, massive journalism (print and visual), corporate business opportunities, and a strong teaching element (coaching). Many of the guys who play would be a lot more interested in their academic studies if they were studying the very thing that is at the center of their lives, rather than just the plays for next week while attempting somehow to pass academic courses in disciplines they see as a distraction. And they’d be better equipped to function in one of the sub-fields above once they didn’t make it in the NFL.
.Thank you for answering these questions and helping out The Undecided.
