A Touch More Rare: Harry Berger, Jr., and the Arts of Interpretation

Acknowledgments, Dedication

a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s We are grateful to Steven Lynn and William Rivers in the Department of English and to Dean Mary Anne Fitzpatrick in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina, for their generous support of a 2006 conference on the work of Harry Berger, Jr., and for their further support of this volume. It has been a pleasure to work with Helen Tartar, Eric Newman, and Tom Lay on the design and production of the book, and a great comfort to have the keen eye of Barbara Bolt reviewing corrections to copy. Finally, to all who participated in the conference, our thanks for making the event so very memorable by embodying at large the qualities of courtesy, wit, and razor-sharp intelligence that distinguish the singular subject of that occasion and this volume. xi A Sonnet for Harry on the Occasion of His Celebration in the year 2006 in Columbia, S. Carolina by Ann Rosalind Jones and Peter Stallybrass When Harry Berger reads, new questions thrive, Provoking ear and eye with wit sublime. In celebration now his friends all chime: ‘‘Each text and mind he’s touched has come alive!’’ And still with dazzling intellect and drive New peaks of worldly words we see him climb. In awe we watch him boldly conquer time. His nectar turns to honey in the hive. How, Harry, do you every hour contrive To theorize complicities, then on a dime Reset your lens on portrait, play, and rhyme? Long will your grace notes, mischievous, survive! We gather here a loving cup to fill— To you. Delight, surprise, inspire us still! ...