University of Illinois at Chicago Professor Mark Canuel: “Examining Literature Helps Us to Become Better People”

Mark Canuel contemplates stepping down from his job at the Institute of Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The seasoned writer and professor is sitting behind a desk in his new office, located in an unmarked room, behind a workspace, inside a massive maze of a building. He’s been relocated to a new space, which explains the boxes and books he must tiptoe around to get to the door. He finally worms his way through his organized mess, shuts the door so that the sounds of construction going on directly outside are muffled, sits back down (looking as academically adept as ever), and breaks down his career. 

Canuel has been a professor at the English Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago for 26 years. This is his sixth year also being the director at the Institute of Humanities. Half of his job is running this institute while the other half is teaching courses in the English Department which he enthusiastically confirms that he loves.

It seems as though it is very rare to successfully pursue a career in a field that you’re passionate about and continue loving what you do without getting bored; but over the course of 30 years in academia, Professor Canuel manages to remain fulfilled and passionate about his career, despite knowing that it may be time to move on soon.

“I think that it's good for institutes like this to have fresh people. I've done some new things here but there are other people who are full of great ideas and they're gonna bring their own fresh ideas to it.” 

If he doesn’t already seem like a busy man, wait until you learn that he also specializes in and writes books, articles on topics such as “Religion, Toleration and British Writing,” and reviews in the field of British romanticism. He has covered philosophy, history, political theory, and most of all, literature from the Romantic period mostly in England from the 1790s. 

Canuel resonates with this period as it saw a lot of political development. “As an ideology associated with revolutions – that really spoke to me. We saw the abolition of slavery, abolition of the death penalty, important governance, movements happening, political revolutions, constitution building, and institutional change,” Canuel articulated. “Because it was this period of excitement, change, and revolution, I was so interested in that and interested in the way that literature took an interest in these changes.” 

Interestingly enough, Canuel never really saw himself going into this career. After enjoying and being successful in biology in high school, he entered Williams College thinking he wanted to be a biology major. It wasn’t until he broadened his exposure to the humanities when he realized that’s where his passion was. However, before deciding to be a professor he planned on going to law school. Instead, he ended up at a publishing company in New York before going to graduate school and eventually getting his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University. 

“I eventually realized why don't I just go to grad school and study this the rest of my life. So it was the ideas that drove me to be a professor. I didn't go to graduate school thinking, ‘Oh, I'm going to be the best professor in the world’ – and I’m far from that – but it’s the passion for ideas. That’s the most important thing.”

These ideas were what drove him to write multiple books, one being “The Fate of Progress and British Romanticism.” The focus of the book is how romantic authors interpreted what it meant to be politically progressive. That many of us discuss politically progressive ideals in very particular ways now, frequently relating them to economics and inequality.

“That was certainly important to the Romantics but they thought of things a little bit differently than we do and they considered religious dissent to be very important and their way of thinking of progress,” Canuel explains. “And so the book is a lot about that and a lot about the way that literature imagined itself in relation to these political ideas of progress and imagined literature itself to be progressive.”

These are the very concepts that fueled Canuel’s passion for not just writing, but teaching as well. 

“That's the other part of what I consider to be important in writing. The kind of work that I do is that I get to talk to students all the time and test ideas out and be in conversation with people and the English Department.” 

Canuel amiably recalls the weekly Friday colloquiums within the Eglish Department where he gets to participate and discuss with other professors and faculty members’ critical works and ideas which he notes is an essential part of thinking through ideas and doing the kind of writing that he does. When he’s not learning from his colleagues, he’s learning from his students which he points out is equally important and valuable.

When asked if there's something he doesn’t enjoy, he pauses, grins, and let’s out a chuckle while admitting that he can’t think of negative things to say. Instead he states what he appreciates: “the opportunity to debate ideas and talk about ideas where people find the material to be important and interesting.”

He then poses a challenge, asking us to consider how the humanities relate to current political crises and catastrophic global change. “What can the humanities do about climate change? What can we do about growing inequality? What does the history of literature have to do with that? Is there any remediation that can be done through the humanities about these terrible things?” He asks. He then finally reveals somewhat of a call to action – “I wouldn't say that it's a problem with humanities and literary studies in particular, it's just a challenge for us moving forward. Ask: why is this relevant? Why do we need to be doing it? Why should people study literature in this moment? I ask myself that constantly.”

Canuel then answers this question, thus stating his mission – which is to demonstrate the important consequences that can come from taking literature seriously and the joy and importance that comes from doing so. 

“I do think that examining literature helps us to become better people. I really think that knowing the history of culture, which is something that being an English major can do for you, is really important. Knowing that we live in a world in which people have had different ideas over time is why I’m obsessed with intellectual history – because people have changed their ideas over time.”

He finishes with an assertion – that since we have the critical thinking abilities that have been bestowed upon us through work in literary studies, this moment of change will increase our faith in our own capacity to create change. This is what is unique about literature and perhaps the humanities in general and Professor Canuel is the perfect catalyst to inspire such change through his work and teaching. All I can say is that he should wait as long as possible before stepping away from it.