Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments The idea for this volume began at the American Literature Association Conference in San Francisco,held in May of 2006. We studied with G.R Thompsonin the early199Os,graduatingwith our doctoraldegreesin 1995-having taken from him a number of courses in nineteenthcentury Americanliteratureandworked under hisdirection on our dissertations.Sincethat time,we havekept in contact,presentedtogetherat conferences,and collaboratedon scholarlyprojects. The two of us approachedJana Argersingerwith the idea of this volume.Sheconsultedwith AlexanderHammond, and we were delightedwhen theyaccepted.What follows is a rich variety of essays on the central authors of "dark romanticism,"many of them by the most prominent scholarsin the field, people Dick knows well, has worked with, and respects immensely. Others are written by Dick's former students, some recent and some not so recent, all working professors and active scholars who owe him a debt of gratitude. We also include an introduction and retrospectiveby his friend and colleagueRobertPaul Lamb,aswell asa personal reminiscence by his longtime colleague and EmeritusProfessorof Englishathrdue University, Leonard Neufeldt. In addition, we provide an extensive selected bibliography of Dick's scholarship.We sincerelyappreciatethe generous contributions of these excellent and dedicated scholars.We would also like to expressour thanks to the editors of P o e Studies,Jana Argersingerand Alex Hammond. Not only did they offer us this opportunity, but they were unstinting in their support and hands-on editorial assistance along the way. Aspecialthanksfor impeccable,diligent, and dependable editorial work goes to Rebecca Kroll, a graduate student and research assistant at California State University, Bakersfield; Tanya Gonzales,production coordinator for P o e Studia; JessicaSchubertMcCarthyand Nora L. Wiechert, both graduate students and research assistantsat WashingtonStateUniversity;and Mallory Sanders, a student assistantatWashington StateUniversity. The volumeis finerbecauseof their commitment and professionalism. SPF ECL ...