The Professor Was a Spy: A Biography of Norman Holmes Pearson (1909-1975), American Literary Scholar

FAIN: FEL-267248-20

Gregory Peter Barnhisel
Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA 15282-0001)

Research and writing leading to a cultural biography of Norman Holmes Pearson (1909-1975), a proponent of literary modernism, a U.S. intelligence operative, and a founding father of American Studies.

As a scholar, teacher, networker, and spy, Norman Holmes Pearson's influence in 20th century American culture was profound, although barely known. With this NEH fellowship, I will complete my biography of Pearson. But this is a cultural biography, using Pearson’s life, experiences, and accomplishments to illustrate the evolution of American society from the 1920s to the 1970s, with a particular focus on how elite culture came together in the 1940s and 1950s to advance a political, cultural, and aesthetic vision of America, and how that consensus fell apart with Vietnam.