“Q: Could you tell us about your professional background?
A: I took my University degrees (M.Litt. and Ph.D.) in English at the University of Warsaw, Poland. For well over three decades now I have taught literature and other arts subjects at American College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, and Dublin Business School. I am also a scholar and an author: I have published nine academic books, plus numerous articles in professional journals. My areas of scholarly interest include medieval and Renaissance literature, history of cinema, and communication theory.
Q: What is the most helpful advice you have, or have received, about writing?
A: As Oscar Wilde said, “I always pass on advice. It is never of any use to oneself.” So I won’t be giving advice, but will only say what my modest experience of writing has taught me. Namely, that writing (academic writing in my case) is as much about communicating ideas as about discovering them. It is therefore intellectually stimulating and exciting, because no matter what preconceived ideas I may have when I start writing, new ideas arise from the writing process in an unpredictable way. Writing is creative by its very nature. So I would say to aspiring writers (of fiction or non-fiction): don’t let the “I-don’t-know-what-to-write-about” feeling stop you from writing. Just start writing, and meaning will emerge from the writing process itself. There is always time to revise the rough draft.
Q: What authors or books have influenced you the most?
A: In non-fiction writing, which is my domain, the greatest influence on my own writing have been the books by Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist from Harvard University. Pinker is to me the best popular scientist that I have ever come across: illuminating, witty, and a great stylist. In fiction I love the novels of Charles Dickens and, nearer our time, the short stories and novels by Isaac Bashevis Singer. I admire the wit and wisdom of Dickens, and the insights into the human condition in Singer.
Q: What do you like the most about working at ACD?
A: The students: their curiosity and hopes about their future. They always remind me of myself when I was at their age, when I became curious about the world and hopeful about my future as a scholar and teacher. At ACD I also like the collegiate, friendly, and stress-free atmosphere. ACD is a small college, where you know everyone who works there as well as the students, at any given time. The Oscar Wilde House in Merrion Square in Dublin—ACD’s main site—is a magical place, because of the literary genius of Oscar Wilde and of his illustrious, bohemian family who have lived there. It gives me goose pimples every time I enter the house (if these walls could speak?!). Teaching the works of Oscar Wilde in the house where he grew up is a metaphysical experience (although I don’t believe in ghosts).
Q: What drew you to this field of study? What keeps you excited about it?
In high school my education took a decisively humanistic turn, away from mathematics and science, and I knew that I would end up studying arts and literature. At the University I discovered that I wanted to be an academic and a scholar. I love reading (and writing) books, despite the frustration of realizing that the more I learn the less I seem to know, because the world and our potential knowledge of it are infinite. But I suppose I would feel even more frustrated if I didn’t study and just deluded myself that I “understand” something. We don’t know or understand much, which is what the philosopher Socrates famously stated two and a half thousand years ago: “I know that I don’t know”.
A: What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect about teaching?
When I see students looking at me with what seems like curiosity (or sometimes amusement) while I tell them things—that is to me the most gratifying aspect of teaching. I also try to strike the balance between being a person who knows something (as a teacher I’m supposed to “”know”” something) and someone who is skeptical, critical, and likes to admit his ignorance (which happens often). There is also a (slight) element of the pleasure of performance, like being an actor in front of an audience and trying to hold the audience’s attention without treating oneself too seriously. That too is gratifying.
Q: Why do you think a Liberal Arts education is important?
Liberal Arts education puts us in touch with other people’s life experience and their intellectual and artistic creativity: both the real people who live now and have lived in the past, and the fictitious characters on the pages of literary fiction, in theatrical plays and movies. Learning about other people extends our necessary limited individual life experience and thinking, makes us aware of other people’s minds, their often secret and intimate thoughts, and private experiences. All this increases our tolerance of other people, teaches us empathy and respect for others, and in the long run reduces misunderstandings, tensions, and violence (emotional, verbal, and physical) in our lives. In other words, Liberal Arts education makes us more civilized and makes the world a better place for everyone.
A: Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of teaching?
Myself and my family are peripatetic: we love walking and hiking. That’s what we mostly do in our free time. Walking is not just good for the body but also for the mind: it is conducive to reflection and creativity. It is also therapeutic: if I have a problem to which I can’t find a solution, I just “walk it of” and the solution often finds itself. Since my teen years I have also loved photography and film-making. I think my creativity, such as it is, is largely visual, not verbal, which is probably why I don’t write fiction. For many years I have also been a drummer in an amateur rock-and-roll band—something I’d like to return to one day again, perhaps when I retire. “
