Page 2 - CROSSROADS - August, 1976
By FR. JAMES SOLARI, O.S.B.
Dr. George Herndl
George Herndl, Ph.D.
Chairman Of Department Of English
In presenting Dr. George Herndl, Chairman of the
department of English, I have the luxury of so many
things to write that it becomes a problem of where to
begin. Perhaps some “vital statistics” will serve for
openers. George was born in Atlanta, Ga. some forty
plus years ago. His childhood was spent in New Jersey
„ where he attended parochial school and then Seton Hall
Prep. In a surge of patriotism, he interrupted his
senior year of high school in 1944 to join the United
States Marines. He served in the Corps until 1946 by
which time the Japanese surrendered and the nation
was able to reduce its military forces. Upon returning
to civilian life, George enrolled at Seton Hall
University near his home but did only one semester’s
work there. From 1947 until 1950 he was an un
dergraduate at the Catholic University of America in
Washington, D. C. Although he was fascinated with
philosophy, he came under the influence of one of his
most memorable teachers. Dr. Ralph Baldwin, and
thus the attraction to the field of literature prevailed.
George decided to pursue a career as a teacher of
English literature but realized that graduate school
costs were beyond his financial means of the moment.
To raise the needed money he resolved to indulge one
of his more romantic and adventuresome fancies and
signed on as an able-bodied seaman on an oil
tartkerlThis turned out to be a demanding but in-
' tSresting occupation which required a strong back and
the psychological temperament to cope with the
periods (^’'solitude at sea. He thrived in this climate of
fresh air, sea spray, and physical labor. The tankers
took him,to;exotiC'places like Aruba and Maracaibo in
iho Can^^fean, to New Orleans, Port Arthur on the Gulf
of Mcxicq, and to the East Coast harbors of Baltimore,
New York, and Boston. He reminisces about these
years with considerable nostalgia: “I met a number of
genuine characters on those ships. People who decide
to be professional sailors are often eccentric but
remarkable persons. At sea one is afforded a good deal
itf privacyjand leisure time and many of those seamen
.wjppe surprisingly well educated-often self taught. I
spent muc^i of my own spare time trying to acquire a
facilKy with French-which I knew I would need in
graduate sthool.”
When probed for some further reflection about his
experiences on shipboard, George reluctanily
volunteered an observation: “While I was on shore ai
Aruba I learned a valuable lesson: first, never say
anything to a Soiiih American that can possibly be
construed as a slight. Second, Russian sailors are
often combative. Third, when an altercation arises,
the Dutch police begin by clobbering everyimc in sight...
This enables them to proceed lo a quiet and orderly
investigation, during which they separate the guilty
from the innocent.” This seems to be useful advice and
should be born in mind by any reader who plans to visit
vAruba.
While he was at Catholic University, George met
Addie Vogel whom he would later marry. At that time
she was an assistant professor of surgical asepsis in
the medical school. To keep her mind occupied, she
was an assistant professor of surgical asepsis in the
medical school. She also was in the process of com
pleting a Master’s degree in hospital administration
and attended night school to obtain a law degree. In
1952 they decided to form a permanent partnership as
George was now home from the sea and anxious.to
enter the University of North Carolina at Chapel
During the next six years, in between the arrivSBf^
their children, Chris and Karl, Addie worked as a
surgical nurse and then as superviser of nurses at the
University hospital to help supplement the income
George could manage working part time for the
American Tobacco Company in Durham.
George remembers the days at Chapel Hill as a
grueling, competitive experience. These were the
middle ‘fiftiers’ when teaching positions were still
scarce and the Ph. D. program was notorious for its
high attrition rate. To survive the rigors of academe,
he drew upon the most valuable single thing he claims
he ever learned (from a Sgt. Johnston, his drill in
structor in basic training with the Marines) namely,
how to maintain control over yourself under extremely
adverse conditions! Actually, he has on occasion had
to fall back on this same principle when correcting
freshman English compiositions.
Upon completion of his doctoral studies in 1959, he
accepted an appointment from Fr. Cuthbert Allen to
the department of English at Belmont Abbey College.
Since that time George Herndl has exerted a beneficial
influence upon the intellectual life of the college. As
chairman of the English department he has been
responsible for developing a strong major con
centration which has produced many outstanding
graduates over the past seventeen years, many of
whom have gone on to take their Ph. D.’s and entered
the field of teaching. His courses are superbly
prepared and invariably challenging to the better
students while not beyond the reach of any serious
undergraduate. He wears his great learning with
admirable modesty and thus enjoys the respect and
esteem of both students and colleagues alike.
His contributions to the academic program of
Belmont Abbey have been many and varied: as
professor of English and department chairman, head
of the humanities division for several years, editor of
the 1967 self-study report to the Southern Association,
chairman of the Honors Program, member of the
curriculum committee, moderator of the student
newspaper, and newly appointed director of the up
coming institutional self-study.
He has received considerable recognition for his
scholarship: in 1959 he was elected to the Delta Ep
silon Sigma honor society. In 1965 he was invited to
become a Danforth Associate, and during the same
year he was named a Fellow of the Southeastern
Medieval and Renaissance Institute, and elected to the
ranks of the “Outstanding Educators of America.” In
1966-1967 he participated as a Humanities Fellow in the
Cooperative Program in the Humanities at Duke
University and Chapel Hill. In 1971 he received a grant
from the Reynolds Foundation to do post-doctoral
study at Columbia University. Finally, in the past
three years he has been awarded two grants by the
National Endowment for the Humanities to do work in
the area of critical theory in literature.
George has written a number of significant articles
for scholarly journals: “Golding and Salinger: a
Clear Choice,” Wiseman Review, 1964; “On the
Protracted War,” Delta Epsilon Sigma Bulletin, 1967;
“Time of the Now Generation,” Liberal Education,
1967; “America’s Younger Generation,’’ Dublin
Review, 1967; “Literary Criticism, English Depart
ments, Con-III Students,” College English, 1975.
His most important work to date, however, is the
book: The high design: English Renaissance tragedy
and the natural law. University of Kentucky Press,
1970. With this he won the coveted award of best
scholarly book of the year, given by South Atlantic
Modern Language Association. Since George retreats
in the face of praise, it is appropriate that the review of
his book in the highly regarded Choice magazine be
included here. The reviewer wrote as follows: “A
superb, authoritative study of the employment and
mutation of the medieval European concept of natural
law as it was first accepted by Shakespeare and other
(Continued On Page 8)
Evening
Classes
Belmont Abbey College
announced this week a
new schedule of upper
level courses which will
be offered in the evening
hours for the academic
year 1976-77. The new
program is designed to
lead to the Bachelor of
Arts degree in Ac
counting or Business
Administration. Students
who have been graduated
from two-year college
programs which include
lower level credits in
accounting and business
courses may apply as
transfer students during
the month of August. The
Rev. James K. Solari, 0.
S. B., Academic Dean
said, “This program is a
new development
growing out of
cooperation with Gaston
College which will benefit
those who have earned
Associate of Arts degree
with appropriate credits
in these areas. We hope
that by expanding our
course offerings in this
way, students who can
attend classes only part
time will come to us for
help in working out their
individual study
programs.”
Chemistry
Offerings
Degree completion and
“refresher” courses in
the chemistry depart
ment will be offered this
fall beginning Thursday,
August 26. These courses
are third and fourth year
studies which may be of
particular interest to
those employed in
chemically related in
dustries within coum-
muting distance of the
College. With help from
representatives of
Lithium, Beaunit,
Sodyeco, Celanese,
Harshaw, and Burlington
Industries, the depart
ment has organized its
offerings for the con
venience of special and
part-time students by
scheduling classes in the
early mornings, late
afternoons, and evenings.
Some are available for
major credit. Many of
last year’s students were
sponsored by their em
ployers in industry.
Registration for special
students is on Thursday,
August 26, from 8:30 a.m.
to 4:00 p.m. at the Ad
missions Office in the
Administration Building
on the Belmont Abbey
campus.