This new interest was noted the next year. Although Barrett Wendell had retired from teaching, English 33hf-was expanded to a full course; it was taken over by Greenough, another somewhat charismatic individual, who had headed English A and was later to become Dean of the College and the first Master of Dunster House.
In 1924 a new name was added to the "greats" of Harvard teachers of American literature. Murdock, who had taught part of English 33 the year before, took over the survey course alone, and began as well a course in "Problems in Early American Literature" which was another departure from the English 33 approach.
Big Three
By this time there was an informal Big Three in the American Literature field at the University: Greenough, and Murdock, and Bliss Perry. Perry, who had made his entrance into the field at about the same time as Wendell, was quite different from his bearded colleague. Possessed of a slow deep voice, he had "nothing of the showman about him--he didn't need to have." He had, Douglas Bush recalled at Perry's death in 1954, "bright blue eyes, a slow smile, a warm and selfless concern with literature and things humane." Perry wrote one of the first favorable biographies extant of Walt Whitman, and edited the Atlantic Monthly for almost ten years.
Perry retired in 1930, and so the field was left to his two co-pioneers. Greenough taught a course in eighteenth-century English thought and expression; Murdock taught a course in the American Novel.
In 1931 there was again a Big Three in American literature. Assistant Professor Francis O. Matthiessen joined the staff of English 33, an association that was to last until his tragic suicide in 1950.
A Fourth
Shortly after Matheissen's entrance into the Department, a fourth giant was added: Perry G. E. Miller, who made his Harvard debut by aiding Murdock with English 33 and later taking over Matthiesson's course in sectional American literature. Miller has since established himself as perhaps the foremost scholar on colonial literature, and has kept himself yoked to English 33 (or 7) for almost 25 years.
By 1935 there were about six courses offered in American literature, and the English Department moved to recognize this field as a formal part of its curriculum. In a major reorganization of its courses in 1935, it changed the name of the section called "The History of English Literature" to "The History of English and American Literature."
By this time Greenough had retired from active teaching, but another scholar came to fill his place. His name was Howard Mumford Jones, and he broke into U.S. literature at Harvard by teaching part of the course which he still heads, English 170.
For 15 years, these four scholars--Murdock, Mathiessen, Miller, and Jones--strengthened the department and greatly broadened the scope of its offerings. This was done by the continual change in the character of English 170 and 270: one year 170 would become Murdock's novel course; another year it would be Miller's course in American Romanticism; again, it became Matheissen's course in American poetry.
In 1950, the Department made perhaps its most recent advancement by showing that it was cognizant of the importance of contemporary authors, and offered a course on Faulkner.
"I am Exhausted"
But 1950 was a significant year for the Department in several ways. It showed its interest in contemporary literature, and it lost one of the men contributing most towards its growth and development. On April 1, 1950, Francis O. Matthiessen jumped to his death from the twelfth floor of the Manger Hotel in Boston, saying in a suicide note that "I am exhausted. . . I find myself terribly oppressed by the present tensions."
His death left Murdock, Miller, and Jones to carry forward American literature at Harvard by themselves. Today there are fourteen courses listed in the catalogue or actually being taught, and it may be assumed that, with interest in the field increasing, the number of courses will also increase. It is doubtful that there will ever be a concentration program in American literature, since, as Murdock says this would result in concentrators becoming "awfully provincial." American writing, he continues, "cannot be seriously studied without realizing how very much it has been influenced by English literature."
University Keeps Perspective
Harvard's approach to the subject, by offering many courses comparing British and American writing, has kept U.S. literature in just this perspective. The distinguished men who have taught it here have done much to lift American literature from the "abominable library of hell" and set it well on the road to being ensconced in the library of quite an other place.