John Getz

After more than forty years as the Department's specialist in nineteenth-century American literature, John Getz retired from fulltime teaching in December, 2014. Through May, 2017, he continued to teach one of his favorite courses, Literature and Moral Imagination, for the Ethics/Religion and Society Focus the University core. In the 1980s, John helped develop Xavier's Peace Studies Minor and served as the first Chair of the Peace Studies Committee that oversees the program. His past research includes articles on Edith Wharton and Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Sherwood Anderson, Ursula Le Guin, and Leslie Marmon Silko. In retirement John continues his research on the intersections of literature and peace studies and, with his wife Jo Anne has presented papers and led a workshop on humor as a tool for coping with cancer. He also volunteers as a docent, discussion leader, and 19th-century literature consultant at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House near Xavier. Of course, he and Jo Anne enjoy spending time with their twelve grandchildren.

Expertise

American literature (esp. 19th-Century), Literature and Peace Studies, Gothic American Literature, Humor in American Literature, Humor and Wellness