Betty T. Bennett
Encyclopedia
Betty T. Bennett was Distinguished Professor of Literature
and Dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences
(1985–1997) at American University
. She was previously Dean
of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and acting provost of Pratt Institute
from 1979 to 1985. Among her numerous awards and honors, Bennett was a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities
and fellow of American Council of Learned Societies
. She won the Keats-Shelley Association of America - Distinguished Scholar Award in 1992 and was Founding President, Phi Beta Kappa, Zeta Chapter at American University
. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bennett graduated from Brooklyn College
magna cum laude and later received a master's degree (1962) and PhD (1970) in English and American literature from New York University
.
Bennett was an internationally known scholar on the life of Frankenstein
author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her circle of friends. She is best known for her three-volume The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, which she edited and published from 1980 to 1988. In a 1988 review of Dr. Bennett's final volume of the letters, author Brian Aldiss
declared her work "a great contribution to scholarship, and one that never need be done again." The books contain nearly 1,300 letters, some 500 of which were previously unpublished. For several years before her death, Bennett worked on a much anticipated literary biography of Shelley, which is scheduled to be released by Harvard University Press
.
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and Dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the College of Arts and Sciences
American University College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest academic unit at American University in terms of student enrollment and faculty lines. It offers more than 50 masters, doctoral, and certificate programs taught by award-winning faculty. A low student-to-faculty ratio allows students to...
(1985–1997) at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
. She was previously Dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and acting provost of Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
from 1979 to 1985. Among her numerous awards and honors, Bennett was a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
and fellow of American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
. She won the Keats-Shelley Association of America - Distinguished Scholar Award in 1992 and was Founding President, Phi Beta Kappa, Zeta Chapter at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bennett graduated from Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
magna cum laude and later received a master's degree (1962) and PhD (1970) in English and American literature from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Bennett was an internationally known scholar on the life of Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her circle of friends. She is best known for her three-volume The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, which she edited and published from 1980 to 1988. In a 1988 review of Dr. Bennett's final volume of the letters, author Brian Aldiss
Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss, OBE is an English author of both general fiction and science fiction. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss. Greatly influenced by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, Aldiss is a vice-president of the international H. G. Wells Society...
declared her work "a great contribution to scholarship, and one that never need be done again." The books contain nearly 1,300 letters, some 500 of which were previously unpublished. For several years before her death, Bennett worked on a much anticipated literary biography of Shelley, which is scheduled to be released by Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
.
Major publications
- British war poetry in the age of romanticism, 1793-1815 (1976)
- The Evidence of the imagination : studies of interactions between life and art in English romantic literature (1978)
- The letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1980–1988)
- The Mary Shelley reader : containing Frankenstein, Mathilda, tales and stories, essays and reviews, and letters (1990)
- Mary Diana Dods, a gentleman and a scholar (1991)
- Mythological dramas : Proserpine and Midas / Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1992)
- Selected letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1995)
- Shelley : poet and legislator of the world (1996)
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley : an introduction (1998)
- Lives of the great romantics III : Godwin, Wollstonecraft, and Mary Shelley by their contemporaries (1999)
- Mary Shelley in her times (2000)