Ronald Herzman

Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus
Portrait of Ron Herzman

Curriculum Vitae

Education

    • BA Manhattan College, 1965
    • MA University of Delaware, 1967
    • PhD University of Delaware, 1969
    • LHD (honoris causa) Manhattan College, 1991

Appointments

    • State University of New York, College at Geneseo
      • SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of English, 1989-2018;
        Emeritus,
      • Chair, 1994-1997
      • Acting Chair, 1986, 2005
      • Professor, 1983鈥89
      • Associate Professor,1978鈥83
      • Assistant Professor, 1969鈥78
    • New York University
      • Visiting Lecturer, 2019
    • Fordham University
      • Fellow, Center for Medieval Studies, 2015-2016
    • St. John鈥檚 College, Santa Fe, NM
      • Guest Tutor, Summer 1994, 1997
    • National Endowment for the Humanities
      • Assistant Director, Division of Fellowships and Seminars,
        1984鈥85
      • Founding Program Officer: Summer Seminars for School Teachers,
        1982鈥85
    • Georgetown University
      • Professorial Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies, 1983鈥85
    • Attica Correctional Facility
      • Adjunct Professor of Literature (through Genesee Community College),
        1980鈥82
    • University of Chicago
      • Fellow, 1978-79
    • University of Delaware
      • Instructor in English, 1968鈥69.

Areas of Specialization

    • Medieval and Renaissance Literature
    • Dante
    • Chaucer
    • Medieval Spirituality
    • Francis of Assisi
    • Latin
    • Humanities
    • Shakespeare
    • The Bible

Courses Taught

    • Dante / The Age of Dante
    • Dante and African American Literature
    • Chaucer / Chaucer and His Age
    • Humanities I: Readings from Plato to Shakespeare
    • Humanites I in New York City / in Hong Kong
    • Humanities II: Locke to Present
    • Medieval Studies (team鈥憈aught, interdepartmental):
    • The Age of Francis of Assisi
    • Love and War in the Twelfth Century
    • The Age of Chaucer
    • The Age of Dante
    • Poetry and Cosmology in the Middle Ages
    • The Apocalyptic Tradition
    • Shakespeare (six different courses)
    • The Bible
    • Literary Forms:
    • Tragedy
    • Arthurian Romance
    • Mythology
    • Old English/Beowulf
    • Medieval British Literature
    • Medieval European Literature
    • British Literature I (beginnings to 1700)
    • Medieval Mysticism (Senior Seminar)
    • College Writing
    • Summer Courses Abroad (team鈥憈aught):
    • Literature and Society in Chaucer\'s England
    • Literature and Society in Dante\'s Italy
    • France and England in the High Middle Ages
    • Latin
    • Elementary Latin
    • Medieval Latin
    • Reading courses in Virgil, Ovid, Augustine, Boethius, Benedict,
    • Bonaventure, Livy
    • Honors 102 / 202 (Critical Reading)

Books

    • The Medieval World View, third edition. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. xxi + 397 (with William R. Cook).
    • The Medieval World View, second edition. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Pp. xx + 320 (with William R Cook).
    • Four Romances of England: King Horn, Havelok the Dane, Bevis of Hampton, and Athelston. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1999 (Edited, with Graham N. Drake and Eve Salisbury).
    • The Apocalyptic Imagination in Medieval Literature, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. Pp. xi + 244 (with Richard K. Emmerson). Chapter Four, 鈥淭he Commedia: Apocalypse, Church, and Dante鈥檚 Conversion,鈥 rpt. in Dante: The Critical Complex, ed. Richard Lansing (New York and London: Routledge, 2003), vol. 5, pp. 350-401.
    • La Vision Medieval Del Mundo, tr. Milagros Rivera Garreta. Barcelona: Editorial Vincens鈥慥ives, 1985 (with William R. Cook).
    • The Medieval World View, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Pp. xxiv + 366 (with William R. Cook)

Articles and Chapters

    • 鈥淒ante, Pope Nicholas III, and the Frescoes in the Sancta Sanctorum,鈥 Dante Studies 140 (2022): 95-134.
    • 鈥淰irgil鈥檚 Mission: Dante and the Salvation of the Pagan World,鈥 Mediaevalia 44 (2023): 125-180 (with Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran Cruz).
    • "Simony," The Chaucer Encyclopedia, ed Richard Newhouser (Wiley), forthcoming.
    • 鈥淒ante, Francis, Iacopone,鈥 Tributes to Richard K. Emmerson: Crossing Medieval Disciplines, eds. Deirdere Carter, Elina Gertsman, and Karlyn Griffith. Turnhout, Belgium: Harvey Miller / Brephols, 2021, pp. 301-314
    • 鈥淭eaching Dante in Prison,鈥 Approaches to Teaching Dante's Divine Comedy, eds. Christopher Kleinhenz and Kristina Olson. New York: MLA Publications, 2020, pp. 242-256
    • 鈥淒ante鈥檚 Francis, Take 2,鈥 Select Proceedings from the First International Conference on Franciscan Studies: 鈥淭he World of Saint Francis鈥 (July 16-20, 2015), eds. Bradley R. Franco and Beth A. Mulvaney. Siena: Betti Editrice, 2016, pp. 51-62.
    • "Fraternal (Un) Masking: "Shakespeare's Measure for Measure and Dante's Inferno 27," in The World of St. Francis of Assisi, " eds. Bradley R. Franco and Beth A. Mulvaney. Leiden: Brill, 2015, pp. 121-139.
    • "Dante: Cafeteria Catholic" in Unruly Catholics from Dante to Madonna, ed. Marc Di Paolo. Lanham: Scarecrow / Rowen and Littlefield, 2013, pp. 1-16
    • "Dante and the Frescoes at Santi Quatro Coronati," Speculum 87.1 (2012): 95-146 (with William A. Stephany).
    • 鈥淎ttica Educations: Dante in Exile,鈥 PMLA 123 (2008): 697-701. Rpt. in Poetry and Criticism vol. 108. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale 2010, pp. 225-228.
    • 鈥溾業o non Ene盲, io non Paolo sono鈥: Ulysses, Guido da Montefeltro, and Franciscan Traditions in the Commedia,鈥 Dante Studies 123 (2005, pub. 2008): 23-69.
    • Dante From Two Perspectives: The Sienese Connection, Bernardo Lecture Series 15 (Binghamton, N.Y.: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2007) (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥淲hat Dante Learned from St. Francis,鈥 in Dante and the Franciscans, ed. Santa Casciana (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2006), pp. 113-140 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥溾業 speak not yet of proof鈥: Dante and the Art of Assisi,鈥 in The Art of the Franciscans in Italy, ed. William R. Cook (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2005), pp. 189-209
    • 鈥淕raduate Educations,鈥 The Journal of Education 184 (2003): 23-35.
    • 鈥淔rom Francis to Solomon: Eschatology in the Sun,鈥 in Dante for the New Millenium, eds. Teodolina Barolini and Wayne Storey (New York: Fordham University Press, 2003), pp.320-333.
    • 鈥淗umanites Educations,鈥 The Journal of Education 183(2002): 81-89.
    • 鈥淢edieval Outreach,鈥 Medieval Academy of America News, November, 2001, p. 12.
    • 鈥淐atholic Educations,鈥 First Things, October 2000, pp. 39-45.
    • The Dante Encyclopedia, ed. Richard Lansing (Garland, 2000), articles on: 鈥淔rancis of Assisi,鈥 鈥淐lement V,鈥 鈥淎pocalypse鈥 (with Richard K. Emmerson), 鈥淩evelation鈥 (with Richard K. Emmerson), and 鈥淧rophecy鈥(with Richard K. Emmerson)
    • 鈥 鈥Visibile Parlare鈥: Dante's Purgatorio 10 and Luca Signorelli's San Brizio Frescoes,鈥 Studies in Iconography 20 (1999):155-183.
    • 鈥The Book of the City of Ladies as Twice Told Tale,鈥 in Retelling Tales, eds. Thomas Hahn and Alan Lupack (Boydell & Brewer, 1998), pp. 108鈥125.
    • 鈥Confessions 7.9: What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem?鈥 Journal of Education 179 (1997): 49鈥60.
    • 鈥淪quaring the Circle: Paradiso 33 and The Poetics of Geometry,鈥 Traditio 49 (1994): 95鈥125 (with Gary W. Towsley).
    • 鈥淒ante and the Apocalypse,鈥 in The Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, eds. R. K. Emmerson and Bernard McGinn. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992. Pp. 398鈥413. Rpt. in Dante: The Critical Complex, ed. Richard Lansing (New York and London: Routledge, 2003), vol. 5, pp. 402-417.
    • 鈥淛acopone da Todi: The Aesthetics of Imprisonment,鈥 Franziskanische Studien 72 (1990): 248鈥256 (with Weston L. Kennison).
    • 鈥淭he Bible and the Schools: Some Reflections,鈥 in Better Schools, Better Lives: An Invitation to Dialogue. Boston: Boston University Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character, 1990. Pp. 21 鈥 26.
    • 鈥The Canterbury Tales in Eschatological Perspective,鈥 in The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages, ed. D. Verhelst et al (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988): 404鈥424 (with Richard K. Emmerson).
    • 鈥淗ow to Write a Fellowship Proposal,鈥 Humanities, Feb. 1987.
    • 鈥淭he Apocalyptic Age of Hypocrisy: Faus Semblant and Amant in the Roman de la Rose,鈥 Speculum 62 (1987): 611鈥634 (with Richard K. Emmerson).
    • 鈥淒ante and Francis,鈥 Franciscan Studies, 42 (1982; pub. 1986): 96鈥114. Rpt. in Dante: The Critical Complex, ed. Richard Lansing (New York and London: Routledge, 2003). vol. 7, pp. 386-404.
    • 鈥淪ummer Seminar for Secondary School Teachers,鈥 School鈥慍ollege Collaborative Programs in English, ed. Ron Fortune, New York: Modern Language Association, 1986, pp. 92鈥96.
    • 鈥The Friar's Tale: Chaucer, Dante, and the Translatio Studii,鈥 ACTA 9 (1985), 1鈥17.
    • 鈥溾楲et Us Seek Him Also鈥: Tropological Judgment in Twelfth-Century Art and Drama,鈥 in Homo, Memento Finis: The Iconography of Just Judgment in Medieval Art and Drama. Papers by David Bevington, Huston Diehl, Richard Kenneth Emmerson, Ronald Herzman, and Pamela Sheingorn. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, Early Drama, Art and Music Monograph Series 6, 1985, pp. 59-88.
    • 鈥淩oland and Romanesque: Biblical Iconography in The Song of Roland,鈥 The Arts, Society, and Literature, ed. Harry Garvin (Bucknell Review, vol. 29, Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1984), pp. 21鈥48 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥淔rom Chaucer to St. Francis,鈥 Humanities 4(1983): 17鈥18.
    • 鈥淒ante In Attica,鈥 Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching, 9(1982): 3鈥8 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥The Reeve's Tale, Symkyn, and Simon the Magician,鈥 The American Benedictine Review, 33 (1982): 325鈥333.
    • 鈥淪imon the Magician and the Medieval Tradition,鈥 Journal of Magic History, 2 (1980): 28鈥43 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥淎ntichrist, Simon Magus, and Dante's Inferno 19,鈥 Traditio, 36 (1980): 373鈥398 (with Richard K. Emmerson).
    • 鈥淐annibalism and Communion in Inferno XXXIII,鈥 Dante Studies 98 (1980): 53鈥77. Rpt. in Dante: The Critical Complex, ed. Richard Lansing (London: Routledge, 2003), vol. 7, Dante and Interpretation, pp. 175-200.
    • 鈥Inferno XXXIII: The Past and the Present in Dante's Imagery of Betrayal,鈥 Italica 56 (1979): 377鈥383 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥溾赌0 miseri seguaci鈥: Sacramental Inversion in Inferno XIX,鈥 Dante Studies 96 (1978): 39鈥65 (with William A. Stephany).
    • 鈥淏辞苍补惫别苍迟耻谤别'蝉 Life of St. Francis and the Frescoes in the Church of San Francesco: A Study in Medieval Aesthetics,鈥 Franziskanische Studien 59 (1977): 29鈥37 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥淢illstones: An Approach to The Miller's Tale and The Reeve's Tale,鈥 The English Record, 18 (1977): 18鈥21, 26.
    • 鈥淪t. Eustace: A Note on Inferno XXVII,鈥 Dante Studies 94 (1976): 137鈥139 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥淟iterature and Society in Chaucer's English: A Multidisciplinary Analysis,鈥 Journal of English Teaching Techniques, 8(1976): 26鈥35 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥淎n Interdisciplinary Approach to Chaucer's England: A Multidisciplinary Analysis,鈥 Exercise Exchange, 18 (1974): 17鈥20 (with William R. Cook).
    • 鈥淭he Paradox of Form: The Knight's Tale and Chaucerian Aesthetics,鈥 Papers on Language and Literature, 10 (1974): 339鈥352. Rpt. in Wege der Forschung: Geoffrey Chaucer, ed. Willi Erzgraber. Darmstadt: Wissensschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1983, pp. 272鈥287.
    • 鈥淭he Gateway of Art: Analogies as an Approach to Medieval Literature,鈥 Exercise Exchange 17 (1973): 13鈥17 (with M. Kay Nellis).
    • 鈥淪tephen Spender: The Critic as Poet,鈥 Notes on Contemporary Literature 3 (1973): 6鈥7.
    • 鈥淎 Yeatsian Parallel in Richard Wilbur's 鈥楳erlin Enthralled,鈥欌 Notes on Contemporary Literature 1 (1972): 10鈥11.

Audio Visual

    • Literature of the Renaissance. Twelve Lecture Visual / Audio course as part of Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, The Great Courses. The Teaching Company, 2004.
    • Augustine's Confessions. Twenty-four Lecture Visual / Audio course, The Great Courses. The Teaching Company, 2004 (with William R. Cook).
    • Dante鈥檚 Divine Comedy. Twenty-four Lecture Visual / Audio course. The Great Courses. The Teaching Company, 2001(with William R. Cook).
    • Discovering the Middle Ages. Twelve Lecture Visual Course, The Great Courses. The Teaching Company, 2001 (with William R. Cook).
    • Francis of Assisi. Twelve Lecture Visual / Audio Course. The Great Courses. The Teaching Company, 2000 (with William R. Cook).
    • Dante's Life and Times, Dante's Literary Antecedents. Two Visual/Audio Lectures, part of Great Authors of the Western Tradition. SuperStar Teachers. The Teaching Company, 1993 (with William R. Cook).
    • Hell, Purgatory, Heaven: Dante's Divine Comedy. Eight Lecture Visual / Audio course for SuperStar Teachers / The Great Courses. The Teaching Company, 1993 (with William R. Cook).
    • Canto per Canto: Conversations with Dante for Our Time: Inferno 27, with William A. Stephany; Inferno 33, with Weston L. Kennison; Purgatorio 21, with Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran Cruz; Paradiso 13, with Gary W. Towsley; Paradiso 14, with Hannah Schmidt (NYU Casa Italiana / You Tube, 2021).
    • Dante鈥檚 Divine Comedy, 鈥淒og with Torches鈥 Podcast (You Tube)

Reviews

    • John Freccero, In Dante鈥檚 Wake: Readings from Medieval to Modern in the Augustinian Tradition, eds. Daniella Callegari and Melissa Swain, Speculum, 2017
    • Dennis Looney, Freedom Readers:The African American Experience of Dante and the The Divine Comedy, Medievally Speaking, on line June 4, 2016.
    • Nick Havely, Dante, Speculum, 2009
    • Justin Steinberg, Accounting for Dante, Medievalia et Humanistica, 2007.
    • Nick Havely, Dante and the Franciscans, Speculum, 2006.
    • Eric Jager, The Book of the Heart, Speculum, 2003.
    • John Scott, Dante's Political Purgatory, Bryn Mawr Medieval Review, 1996, on line.
    • Robert Fossier, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages: 1 350鈥950, Studies in the Age of Chaucer (1993) .
    • John Saly, Dante's Paradiso: The Flowering of the Self, Church History, 1993.
    • Piero Boitani, The Tragic and The Sublime in Medieval Literature, Studies in the Age of Chaucer 13(1991): 165鈥8.
    • Robert Edwards, The Dreams of Chaucer, Envoi 2(1990): 307鈥311.
    • Antonio Crocco, ed., L'Eta dello Spirito e La Fine Dei Tempi in Gioacchino da Fiore e nel Gioachimismo Medievale: Atti del II Congresso Internationale di Studi Giochimiti, Speculum 65(1990): 642鈥3.
    • Jeffrey Tambling, Dante and Difference: Writing in the Commedia, Studies in the Age of Chaucer 11(1989): 327鈥331.
    • Penn Szittya, The Antifraternal Tradition in Medieval Literature, Envoi 1(1988): 176鈥181.
    • Patrick Diehl, The Medieval Religious Lyric: An Ars Poetica, Speculum 63(1988): 390鈥1.
    • Peter Dronke, Dante and Medieval Latin Traditions, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 9(1987): 209鈥212.
    • Joan M. Ferrante, The Political Vision of the Divine Comedy and Stewart Farnell, The Political Ideas of the Divine Comedy, Italica, 63(1986): 306鈥310.
    • V.A. Kolve, Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 7(1985): 212鈥218 (with Richard K. Emmerson).
    • A. Bartlett Giamatti, ed., Dante in America, The First Two Centuries, Speculum, 60(1985): 678鈥9.
    • John V. Fleming, From Bonaventure to Bellini: An Essay in Franciscan Exegesis, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 6(1984): 189鈥192.
    • Richard K. Emmerson, Antichrist in the Middle Ages, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 5(1983): 164鈥166.
    • Richard Kay, Dante's Swift and Strong, Modern Philology, 78(1980): 75鈥78.
    • Lincoln Cathedral Manuscript Library, Microform Review, 8(1979): 218鈥220.
    • Lars Lonroth, Njal's Saga: A Critical Introduction, Oral History Review 1976, pp. 75鈥76.

Awards and Honors

    • Dante, Eschatology, and the Christian Tradition: Essays in Honor of Ronald B. Herzman, eds. Lydia Yaitsky Kerz and Richard K. Emmerson. Medieval Institute Publications, 2023
    • 黑料网, Faculty Career Achievement Award, August, 2017 (First Recipient).
    • National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminars for School Teachers, Director: Dante's Commedia, Siena and Assisi Italy, Summer 1988; 黑料网, Summer 1989.
    • Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, 黑料网, Summer 1990, Summer 1991, Summer 1993. Dante's Commedia: St. John's College, Santa Fe, Summer 1996, 1998. Co-Director, "Dante鈥檚 Commedia": Siena Italy, Summer 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 (with William Stephany).
    • Commencement Speaker, 黑料网, May 2013
    • Art Hatton Award for Excellence in College Advancement, 2012.
    • Who's Who in America, 2011.
    • Geneseo Alumni Association, Honorary Membership, 2011.
    • Phi Beta Kappa, Foundation Member, 黑料网, 2004
    • Medieval Academy of America: CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies, 2003 (First Recipient).
    • Spencer J. Roemer Fellowship, Summer 1994.
    • Commencement Speaker, Groveland Correctional Facility, 1993.
    • Commencement Speaker, 黑料网, 1992.
    • L.H.D. honoris causa, Manhattan College, 1991.
    • New York State/United University Professions Excellence Award, 1990.
    • State University of New York: Appointed Faculty Exchange Scholar, 1981鈥
    • Commencement Speaker, Attica Correctional Facility, 1980 (with William R. Cook).
    • National Endowment for the Humanities: Residential Fellow, University of Chicago, 1978鈥1979.
    • Member, National Humanities Faculty: 1978鈥
    • State University of New York: Research Grants 1976, 1979, 1981.
    • State University of New York: Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1976.
    • National Endowment for the Humanities: Summer Seminar, Princeton University 1973.