Susan Hollis Merritt

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About

I earned my BA with Honors from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and my MA and PhD in English from Indiana University Bloomington. My PhD dissertation, “Fantasy behind Play: A Study of Emotional Responses to Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, The Caretaker and The Homecoming,” initiated my work in reader-response oriented theory, criticism, and pedagogy and developed into my broader scholarly and pedagogical interests in theory and criticism. For several decades I have taught courses in English and theater at universities and colleges in the United States and engaged in scholarly pursuits here and abroad.

My research on the criticism of Harold Pinter’s work advanced significantly when I participated as a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow in the NEH Summer Seminar New Directions in Literary Study, directed by Professor Ralph Cohen, at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville. Supported by an NEH Fellowship for College Teachers, I began my work on my book Pinter in Play: Critical Strategies and the Plays of Harold Pinter (1990; Duke UP, 1995).

Following the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, Harold Pinter’s support for Václav Havel, and subsequent political developments in the Czech Republic (discussed in chapter 8 on “Cultural Politics” and updated in my preface to the paperback edition of Pinter in Play), I studied Czech as a visiting scholar in the Institute for European Studies at Cornell University and traveled to Prague multiple times to do research on Czech productions of contemporary plays by Pinter and other playwrights writing in English. During the spring of 1997, I was a Fulbright Senior Scholar, hosted by the Czech Theatre Institute, and a research associate at Charles University, in Prague. I also made many trips to London, to do research in the Harold Pinter Archive at the British Library and to attend theatrical productions and related events pertaining to Pinter and other playwrights.

My teaching and research, including my regular participation in MLA Annual Conventions, led to my becoming a charter member of the Society for Critical Exchange (founded in 1975) and a founding Life Member of the Harold Pinter Society (founded in 1986; now called the International Harold Pinter Society), both Allied Organizations of the MLA.

As founding Bibliographical Editor of The Pinter Review, I compiled the “Harold Pinter Bibliography” from 1987 through 2011, when it was published in conjunction with the Pinter Society by the University of Tampa and the University of Tampa Press. Having participated in MLA workshops on Digital Humanities (see my profile on DH Commons, linked below in “Projects”), I am exploring the feasibility of developing a searchable digital database for my “Harold Pinter Bibliography” compiled for The Pinter Review.

A selected list of my publications (including 14 installments of the bibliography) appears below and in the CV section of my (archived) website, which I hope to update and re-locate to a new hosting service in the future.

My academic interests include:
Dramatic literature, criticism, and theory;
Global politics and the cultural impact of contemporary drama and media;
Human rights issues pertaining to cultural studies;
Digital pedagogy and scholarship;
Archival studies; and
Critical bibliography.

Education

Wellesley College, HERS Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration, Certificate
University of Virginia, NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers New Directions in Literary Study (Theory and Criticism)
Indiana University Bloomington, MA and PhD in English Language and Literature (Minor in Criticism: School of Letters)
University of Wisconsin–Madison, BA with Honors (General Honors Program; English major)

Blog Posts

CV

View file

Publications

Books and Bibliographies

Pinter in Play: Critical Strategies and the Plays of Harold Pinter. 1990. Duke UP, 1995, dukeupress.edu/pinter-in-play.

“Harold Pinter Bibliography.” The Pinter Review, U of Tampa / U of Tampa P / Harold Pinter Society, 1987–2011. Bibliographical Editor and compiler. Original print series, including: vol. 1, no. 1, 1987, pp. 77-82; vol. 2, no. 1, 1988, pp. 83-92; [vol. 3] Annual Essays 1989, pp. 112-21, [vol. 4] Annual Essays 1990, pp. 113-23; [vol. 5] Annual Essays 1991, 1991, pp. 79-94; [vol. 6] Annual Essays 1992–93, 1993, pp. 100-11; [vol. 7] Annual Essays 1994, 1994, pp. 138-61; [vol. 8] Annual Essays 1995 and 1996, 1997, pp. 208-28; [vol. 9] Collected Essays 1997 and 1998, 1999, pp. 186-218; [vol. 10] Collected Essays 1999 and 2000, 2000, pp. 191-230; [vol. 11] Collected Essays 2001 and 2002, 2002, pp. 238-71; [vol. 12] Collected Essays 2003 and 2004, 2004, pp. 242-300; [vol. 13] Nobel Prize / Europe Theatre Prize Volume: 2005–2008, 2008, pp. 261-343; and [vol. 14] Remembering / Celebrating Harold Pinter: Memorial Volume: 2009–2011, 2011, pp. 220-77, web.archive.org/web/20131209052559/http://susanhollismerritt.org/_wsn/page2.html.

[Elliott, Susan, co-compiler.] “Reader-Oriented Criticism: A Bibliography.” Reader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy, no. 1, Jan. 1977, pp. 7-10. Compiler with Robert Crosman. Cf. sites.lafayette.edu/reader/archive/issues-1-10/.

[Elliott, Susan Merritt.] “Fantasy behind Play: A Study of Emotional Responses to Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, The Caretaker and The Homecoming. Diss. Indiana, 1973. DAI, vol. 34, sec. A, 1974, p. 5963A.

Articles, Essays, and Other Sections of Books

“Being and Not Being Harold Pinter: Pinter Still in Play in the USA.” Ch. 11 in Harold Pinter on International Stages, edited by Tomaž Oniž, Peter Lang, 2014, pp. 169-203. Peter Lang, doi: 10.3726/978-3-653-04656-4/24 (EPUB), peterlang.com/view/product/21237?format=HC (Hardback). [Requires subscription or purchase for full access.]

“Pursuing Pinter . . . .” Remembering / Celebrating Harold Pinter: The Pinter Review: Memorial Volume: 2009–2011, edited by Francis Gillen, U of Tampa P, 2011, pp. 57-78.

“The Mistiness of the Past.” Asides: A Publication of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, DC, 2011, pp. 4-8, shakespearetheatre.org/_pdf/asides/OLD-MERCHANT_Asides.pdf. Commissioned essay on Old Times.

“‘The memory of all that’: Presence and Prescience of the Past in Old Times.” Shakespeare Theatre Company Guide to the Season’s Plays: 2010–2011 Season, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, DC, 2010, pp. 42-47, shakespearetheatre.org/_pdf/Guide1011_lowres.pdf. Commissioned essay.

“Pursuing Pinter.” Nasleđje [Heritage: Journal of Language, Literature, Art and Culture, Faculty of Philology and Arts, U of Kragujevac, Serbia], no. 12, 2009, pp. 151-70. Thematic issue dedicated to Harold Pinter, chief editor, Dragan Bošković, co-editor, Radmila Nastić, filum.kg.ac.rs/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=328:thematic-issue-of-nasledje-12-heritage-no-12-dedicated-to-harold-pinter&catid=216:activities.

“(Anti-)Global Pinter.” The Pinter Review: Nobel Prize / Europe Theatre Prize Volume: 2005–2008, edited by Francis Gillen with Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2008, pp. 140-67.

“Nobel Week 2005–The Experience of a Lifetime: Homage to Harold Pinter.” The Pinter Review: Nobel Prize / Europe Theatre Prize Volume: 2005–2008, edited by Francis Gillen with Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2008, pp. 51-65.

“Pursuing Critical Exchange.” The Society for Critical Exchange: Phase I: 1975–1988, edited by Patricia Harkin, preface by David Downing, special issue of Works and Days, vol. 25, no. 49/50, 2007, pp. 139-62, worksanddays.net/2007/File14.Merritt_FINAL_Layout2_060908.pdf.

“‘HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME’: Pinter Past, Pinter Present, and Pinter Future.” The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 2003 and 2004, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2004, pp. 61-82.

“Staging Pinter: From Pregnant Pauses to Political Causes.” The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 2003 and 2004, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2004, pp. 123-43. Transcript of a panel discussion sponsored by the International Festival of Authors, in conjunction with the Homage to Harold Pinter, at World Leaders: A Festival of Creative Genius, 14-18 Oct. 2001, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto. With Patricia Rozema, Henry Woolf, and Hersh Zeifman; moderated by Jeanne Colleran.

“Pinter on Pinter: The Lincoln Center Interview.” The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 2001 and 2002, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2002, pp. 14-37. Transcript of interview with Harold Pinter conducted and moderated by Mel Gussow during the Lincoln Center 2001 Harold Pinter Festival, July-August 2001, New York.

“Talking about Pinter.” The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 2001 and 2002, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2002, pp. 144-67. Report on the Lincoln Center 2001 Harold Pinter Festival Symposia: “Introduction to the Works of Harold Pinter,” by Michael Billington; “Playwrights on Pinter” (Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and John Guare); “Actors on Pinter” (Blythe Danner, Liev Schreiber, and Henry Woolf); and “Directors on Pinter” (David Jones, Gari Jones, and Karel Reisz).

“Pinter and Politics.” Pinter at 70: A Casebook, edited by Lois Gordon, enlarged ed., Routledge, 2001, pp. 129-60. Casebooks on Modern Dramatists 30. [Section of ch. 8 of Pinter in Play, 1st ed., Duke UP, 1990, published also in Harold Pinter: A Casebook, edited by Lois Gordon, 1st ed., Garland Publishing, 1990.]

“Harold Pinter’s Ashes to Ashes: Political/Personal Echoes of the Holocaust.” The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 1999 and 2000, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2000, pp. 73-84.

“Post-Revolutionary Perspectives on Ancient Greek Drama in Prague.” (Dis)Placing Greek Classical Theatre, edited by Savas Patsalidis and Elizabeth Sakellaridou, U Studio P / Aristotle U of Thessaloniki, 1999, pp. 179-90.

“Pinter Playing Pinter: The Hothouse.” The Pinter Review: Annual Essays 1995 and 1996, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 1997, pp. 73-84.

“The Harold Pinter Archive in the British Library.” The Pinter Review: Annual Essays 1994, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 1994, pp. 14-53.

“The Outsider in Pinter and Havel.” Pinter at Sixty, edited by Katherine H. Burkman and John L. Kundert-Gibbs, Indiana UP, 1993, pp. 64-75. Drama and Performance Studies.

“Major Critics, Strategies, and Trends in Pinter Criticism.” Critical Essays on Harold Pinter, edited by Steven H. Gale, G. K. Hall, 1990, pp. 307-41. Critical Essays on British Literature.

“Recent Developments in Pinter Criticism.” Pinter Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 1987, pp. 68-76.

“Pinter’s ‘Semantic Uncertainty’ and Critically ‘Inescapable’ Certainties.” Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, vol. 1, no. 1 (Fall 1986), pp. 49-76, journals.ku.edu/index.php/jdtc/article/viewArticle/1643.

[Elliott, Susan.] “Beyond the Academy.” no. 7, Summer 1980, pp. 17-22.   societyforcriticalexchange.org/includes/pageContent/Archives/Reports%20before%202000/SCE%20Reports-Critical%20Exchange/sce07%20Summer%201980.pdf.

[Elliott, Susan.] “Beyond? Interpretation.” SCE Reports, no. 6, Fall 1979, pp. 40-54. [Not archived on past or current SCE websites; the archives include the “Supplement” to no. 6.]

[Elliott, Susan.] “Teaching Literature through Readers.” Reader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy, no. 4, May 1978, pp. 9-15, sites.lafayette.edu/reader/archive/issues-1-10/.

Special Issues

[Elliott, Susan Merritt, editor.] Literary Change/Critical Change. Critical Exchange, no. 13, Spring 1983, pp. 1-81. Includes my “Guest Editor’s Preface: Theoretical Writing as a Kind of Change,” pp. ii-ix, case.edu/affil/sce/SCE%20Reports%20-%20Critical%20Exchange/sce13%20Spring%201983.pdf.  Accessible also via the current SCE site archive, societyforcriticalexchange.org/includes/pageContent/Archives/Reports%20before%202000/SCE%20Reports-Critical%20Exchange/sce13%20Spring%201983.pdf. [New series (continuation) of SCE Reports, no. 12, Fall 1982, pp. 1-25, featuring my initial brief “Guest Editor’s Preface,” p. ii, societyforcriticalexchange.org/includes/pageContent/Archives/Reports%20before%202000/SCE%20Reports-Critical%20Exchange/sce12%20Fall%201982.pdf.]

[Elliott, Susan M., editor.]  NDLS [New Directions in Literary Study] Newsletter, no. 2, Feb. 1980. Including my essay “Poetic and Interpretive Truth: Dwelling in the Authenticity of Metaphor,” pp. 10-13. NDLS Newsletter, no. 1, Aug. 1979. Coordinating editor. Initiated for the participants of the 1978 NEH Summer Seminar: New Directions in Literary Study (NDLS), directed by Professor Ralph Cohen, at the University of Virginia.

[Elliott, Susan M., editor.] Applications of Theories of Reading to Literature and Composition Pedagogy. Reader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy, no. 7, Jan. 1980, pp. 1-56, sites.lafayette.edu/reader/archive/issues-1-10/. Including my guest editor’s preface, pp. 1-2; my essays “Fantasy in Fiction: Studying Literature through Readers,” pp. 22-28; “Some Issues Relating to Reader-Oriented Teaching,” pp. 28-39; and “Report on the 1979 NEMLA Forum on The Reader of Literature,” pp. 48-51.

Selected Review-Essays, Reviews, Interviews, and Other Publications

Review of Harold Pinter: A Bibliographical History, compiled by William Baker and John C. Ross. The Pinter Review: Nobel Prize / Europe Theatre Prize Volume: 2005–2008, edited by Francis Gillen with Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2008, pp. 238-60.

“Betrayal in Denver.” The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 2003 and 2004, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2004, pp. 187-201.

“Monologue at Lincoln Center.” The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 2001 and 2002, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 2002, pp. 171-82.

“Ashes to Ashes in New York.” The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 1997 and 1998, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 1999, pp. 156-59.

“Moonlight and The Homecoming in Prague.” The Pinter Review: Annual Essays 1995 and 1996, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa P, 1997, pp. 171-79.

Review of The Pinter Ethic, by Penelope Prentice. Modern Drama, vol. 38, no. 4, Dec. 1995, pp. 528-30.

“A Conversation with Carey Perloff, Bill Moor, Peter Riegert, Jean Stapleton, and David Strathairn.” The Pinter Review: Annual Essays 1989, edited by Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale, U of Tampa, 1989, pp. 59-84.

Review of Harold Pinter: Critical Approaches, edited by Steven H. Gale, and Harold Pinter: The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming: A Casebook, edited by Michael Scott. Modern Drama, vol. 32, no. 3, Sept. 1989, pp. 459-62.

Review of Pinter’s Female Portraits: A Study of Female Characters in the Plays of Harold Pinter, by Elizabeth Sakellaridou. Modern Drama, vol. 32, no. 1, Mar. 1989, pp. 171-73.

Review of The Birthday Party, by Harold Pinter (CSC Rep [Classic Stage Company Repertory], New York). The Pinter Review, vol. 2, no. 1, 1988, pp. 66-70.

Letter to the editor. “Forum: Dialogic Discourse.” PMLA, vol. 102, no. 5, Oct. 1987, pp. 830-31. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/462312, jstor.org/stable/462312.

[Elliott, Susan M.] “Stalking Harold Pinter.” Worcester Telegram and Gazette Sunday Morning Magazine, 4 Apr. 1982, pp. 3, 14. Including my interview with Adrian Hall, Artistic Director of Trinity Square Repertory Company, Providence, RI, about Trinity Square Rep’s American première of The Hothouse.

[Elliott, Susan M.] Review of Harold Pinter: An Annotated Bibliography, by Steven H. Gale. Modern Drama, vol. 23, no. 1, Mar. 1980, pp. 87-91.

[Elliott, Susan.] “The Reader as a Person.” Reader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy, no. 3, July 1977, pp. 5-7, sites.lafayette.edu/reader/archive/issues-1-10/.

[Note: From 1969 to 1983, I published and presented my work as Susan Merritt Elliott, Susan M. Elliott, or Susan Elliott. In 1984 I changed my name back to Susan Hollis Merritt.]

Projects

“Pinter Still in Play: The Global Cultural Impact of Harold Pinter”

I have created this site for Day of DH 2017. I am working on a project titled “Pinter Still in Play: The Global Cultural Impact of Harold Pinter,” which will ultimately become a collection of essays updating and expanding my book Pinter in Play: Critical Strategies and the Plays of Harold Pinter, and a companion “Harold Pinter Bibliography Searchable Digital Database.” Eventually, I hope to link this overall project to other digital projects relating to Harold Pinter currently in various stages of development.

[Posted in “Pinter Still in Play,” my site on Day of DH 2017, http://dayofdh2017.linhd.es/shmerritt/.]

“The Harold Pinter Bibliography Searchable Digital Database”

As a founding Life Member of the International Harold Pinter Society (an Allied Organization of the MLA) and the founding Bibliographical Editor of The Pinter Review (1987–2011), I am exploring the feasibility of developing a searchable digital database for my “Harold Pinter Bibliography,” published in print in The Pinter Review from 1987 through 2011. The most recently published “Harold Pinter Bibliography” (14th) appears in Remembering / Celebrating Harold Pinter: The Pinter Review: Memorial Volume: 2009–2011, edited by Francis Gillen, U of Tampa P, 2011, pp. 220-77. ISBN 978-1879852-24-2 (hardcover) and ISBN 978-1879852-45-7 (softcover). ISSN 0895-9706.

[Posted in my “Collaborators” profile on DH Commons, dhcommons.org/users/susan-hollis-merritt, via “Projects,” dhcommons.org/projects/harold-pinter-bibliography-searchable-digital-database.]

Upcoming Talks and Conferences

“~~Romantic~~ Pinter.” A paper to be presented at Harold Pinter: Histories and Legacies, a three-day international conference sponsored by the Harold Pinter: Histories and Legacies research project, 19-21 Sept. 2019, at the University of Leeds.

[“Pinter’s Voices.” A paper presented at Pinter on Film, Television and Radio: Pinter on Screen/Pinter on Air, a two-day international conference sponsored by the Harold Pinter: Histories and Legacies research project, 19-20 Sept. 2018, at the University of Reading and The British Library.]

Memberships

Association for Theatre in Higher Education
David Mamet Society (Charter member)
Fulbright Association (Alumna member)
International Harold Pinter Society (Charter and Life Member)
Modern Language Association (Life Member)
Society for Critical Exchange (Charter Member)
Theatre Communications Group

Bibliographical Editor (Emerita)

The Pinter Review (1987-2011)