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Interchange – Gareth Evans on Literature

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Dave Stewart interviews Gareth Evans, a native of Wales who teaches Literature at Indiana University. They discuss the politics of sentimental fiction, late 18th, 19th, and early 20th American literature, Henry James, and British and American proletarian fiction of the 1930s. Gareth touched upon a topic introduced by IU Gender Studies/Pop Culture Professor Jen Maher, who stated in her interview on Interchange that one thing people could do is “read more”. Gareth Evans discusses how he learned to read by reading The Sporting Life, a horse-racing magazine in South Wales at the age of 4. Growing up in a steel city and then moving to Bristol, England at the age of 9, Gareth discusses how reading was a part of his life. The Voice of Industry was an 1840’s cotton mill newspaper which agitated for a 10 hour working day, among other activist goals, and Gareth Evans discusses the research he did on that. Dave Stewart and Gareth Evans then discuss the courses that Mr. Evans will teach this upcoming Fall Semester, which leads to a fascinating discourse on Henry James, Melville, Homer, Dante, and other authors. At the close of the interview, Gareth Evans provides some insight in why he enjoys reading and teaching literature, which I found inspiring, and causes me (Dave Stewart) to want to get lost, and perhaps find myself, in a novel!

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