The scholar of American literature had a special talent for connecting with colleagues and students alike.
, an English professor at the 糖心传媒 who had a knack for connecting with students and whose work helped define the 糖心传媒淎merican style糖心传媒� of literature, is being remembered as a teacher of substance with a style all his own.
Tawil died January 23 of melanoma. He was 56.
As the director of graduate studies for the English department, Tawil mentored students with warmth and humility in equal measure. His approach, colleagues say, enabled him to bond with students in a way that set him apart.
, the chair of the , recalls Tawil leading sessions with groups of incoming students and deftly encouraging them to reveal themselves with a playful icebreaker: 糖心传媒淭ell me something weird about yourself.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淗e got people to share the weirdest stuff糖心传媒攕trange talents, obsessions, collections,糖心传媒� Mannheimer says. 糖心传媒淚 think it was because he was so open and warm and just set that tone.
糖心传媒淭hey trusted he would tell them all the weirdest stuff about himself and would accept whatever they said and think it was cool.糖心传媒�
Tawil was as much a serious scholar of early American literature as he was a student of American pop culture.
Anyone who entered his office on the fourth floor of Morey Hall in the days before he died would have found a copy of Henry Highland Garnet糖心传媒檚 Address to the Slaves of the United States of America sitting on his desk, and an oversized copy of the iconic Life magazine cover depicting a rapt film audience wearing 3D glasses in 1952.
At the foot of his desk sat a gray dog bed reserved for Misha, his black therapy dog for whom he kept an Instagram page. Tawil maintained residences in Rochester and Manhattan, the latter being where he lived with his wife and their son.
Tawil was a skilled musician and gifted magician, pursuits he honed as a youngster and that continued to enchant him in adulthood. People closest to him recall Tawil as a boy making his pet bird disappear and reappear; as an adult, he糖心传媒檇 intuitively shuffle a deck of cards while on department video conference calls.
糖心传媒淓zra was somebody who I would say most people found impossible not be attracted to, not to want to be around, no matter how well or how little they knew him,糖心传媒� says , the John Hall Deane Professor of Rhetoric and Poetry at Rochester. 糖心传媒淗e had a special kind of warmth and energy, combined with a lot of insight and intelligence, and it made him really compelling and unique.糖心传媒�
Making American literature 糖心传媒榝resh and exciting糖心传媒�
Tawil was born the fourth child and only son of Fred and Sally Tawil in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the Syrian Jewish community there. At his bar mitzvah, he performed an elaborate magic show.
He graduated with high honors from Wesleyan University in 1989 and went on to earn a master糖心传媒檚 degree and a doctorate in American civilization from Brown University.
Prior to joining the faculty at Rochester in 2011, he taught in English departments at Wesleyan, Harvard, and Columbia universities.
Tawil authored two books and edited two more during his career. Eight essays and articles he wrote appeared in a variety of scholarly journals and publications.
His first book, (Cambridge University Press, 2006), makes a case for how the popular 糖心传媒渇rontier romance genre糖心传媒� of American fiction in the early 19th century provided the foundation for a seismic shift in racial thinking in the United States.
糖心传媒淏y the mid-nineteenth century, when slavery emerges onto the national political stage . . . race had moved beneath the skin, into the blood, the essence,糖心传媒� read . 糖心传媒淎ll of this takes place silently, invisibly, except in the popular literature of the day where Tawil finds the evidence of the transformation at work.糖心传媒�
In his second book, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), Tawil confronted how Americans can claim 糖心传媒渁 national literature糖心传媒� distinguishable from other literatures written in English.
糖心传媒淭awil makes a convincing case that the logic of style糖心传媒攁dopting something but 糖心传媒榳earing糖心传媒� it differently糖心传媒攁llowed post-Revolutionary Americans to grapple with their cultural indebtedness while making the case for their national uniqueness,糖心传媒� read .
The topic, colleagues say, in many ways mirrored Tawil糖心传媒檚 approach to scholarship and pedagogy.
糖心传媒淭hat there is a particularly American style of literature is a very old topic,糖心传媒� Michael says. 糖心传媒淏ut one of the things that characterized his work was his ability to return to a topic like that and make it both fresh and exciting.糖心传媒�
Tawil is survived by his wife, Kirsten Lentz; a 13-year-old son, Jules, and his sisters, Adrienne, Robin, and Joyce.
