The Legacy of Joe Skerrett

I was devastated last summer when my dear friend Joe Skerrett suddenly left us; his legacy, however, of brilliant scholarship and teaching, and his generosity and greatness of spirit, remains. One of the greatest achievements of his long and productive career was winning the Council of Editors of Learned Journals Distinguished Retiring Editor Award. As they recognized, his editorship of MELUS was heroic, path-breaking, and immensely influential. During his twelve years at its helm, what was once an obscure journal with limited circulation became the leading periodical in the field of ethnic literary studies. He charted new paths, alternating “Varieties of Ethnic Criticism” editions with focused issues on topics such as Native American Literature, Asian American Literature, and Ethnic Women’s Literature. He charged scholars of various subsets of ethnic literary study to edit special editions devoted to Ethnic Humor, Irish American literature, Italian American literature, Ethnic Sexualities, Religion and Ethnic Literature, and Ethnicity and Critical Theory. Under his leadership, the journal reached an ever increasing spectrum of readers and scholars, and as a result played a crucial and often underappreciated role in our national discourse about ethnicity, folkculture, immigration, postcolonial writing, and many other related subjects. Joe also challenged contributors to compose cross-ethnic essays; he thereby strengthened necessary ties between scholars of differing ethnic and racial backgrounds, and fomented and complicated urgently needed discourse between and among cultures. The many graduate students he trained are keeping his legacy burning bright. He is remembered by his MELUS family—and I am quoting colleagues here—as “kind,” “generous,” “a gentleman,” “a great listener,” “a wise counselor.” He was also an engaged and wise society President.

Since Joe was my best conference buddy, and we attended probably hundreds of panels together, I can affirm that he always listened carefully to presentations and often posed tactful, helpful questions; further, as MELUS editor, he would ask thrilled graduate students to send their papers to his desk for possible publication. My adventures with Joe covered many cities, at conferences both in the United States and abroad. He frequently traveled with me and my wife June before or after these conferences, in locales as diverse as Italy, Hawaii, Belgium, and France. He loved opera, blues, jazz, and theater, and was a celebrated chef. Evenings at his charming home in Belchertown were full of laughter, great food, circulating music, and wonderful stories. He gloried in his garden, his circle of friends, and his beloved relatives. This last time I saw him, at the April MELUS conference I hosted here at UGA, he was full of tales about his latest adventures and was making excited plans for the future.

The Estonian composer Arvo Part was once asked to name his favorite instrument; he replied “the human heart in tune.” Joe, whether he was in the classroom, at a conference, in his garden or kitchen, or at a concert, was always “in tune,” and he brought new perceptions and harmonies to everyone he encountered. The music of his life will reverberate for many of us for years to come.

Joseph T. Skerrett, Jr.

Photograph courtesy of Archie J. Brown Collection