Thursday, September 11, 2025
Dear Virginia,
You don't know me but I was one of Duncan's professors (in English) back at Harvard. I just came across this and am so saddened to learn of Duncan's death. I'd been going through old emails, and found one he wrote me in 2021 or so, to which I'd typed out an answer which somehow never got sent--that makes me sad. I hit the "send" button this morning and then decided to recheck his profile, only to find the obituary notices.
For what it's worth, here are some excerpts from the "catch-up" email he sent me (during covid):
"I always thought studying English literature was such a privilege and such fun, I would constantly tell myself how amazed I was that I was getting academic credit to read all these wonderful great novels and poems. Suffice it to say, you and Deborah [Nord] were my favorite teachers. [After graduating] I found Harvard Law to be a total shock and left after 4 weeks. I went to medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and once again I found myself a little bit of a fish out of water. But because I was focused on learning and becoming a psychiatrist, I was able to get through, and then for residency came back to Cambridge. I used to walk by the building where you had your office there quite a bit and would think of you often. I do have Tradition/Counter Tradition still, and actually have gone back to it over the years, reading parts of it. As I think you might remember, although I started [my senior thesis on] Paradise Lost, trying to do post structural/Foucault reading of it. But it was coming along too slowly and not much fun, and so I ended up writing on Jane Eyre (the novel some wise person once wrote was “the best and brightest” of the post Austen marriage plot)."
All the best to you and your loved ones--
Joseph Boone
Professor Emeritus in English
University of Southern California
josephbo@usc.edu
