Eugene Current-Garcia (1908-1995) was a professor at Auburn University and became Auburn's Hargis Professor Emeritus of American Literature. He was a founding editor of the Southern Humanities Review and a noted scholar of
Southern literature
Southern United States literature consists of American literature written about the Southern United States or by writers from the region. Literature written about the American South first began during the colonial era, and developed significan ...
. He was named the first
Phi Kappa Phi
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...
American Scholar in 1994, the first year of that biennial award.
Education
Eugene Current-Garcia received his A.B. in 1930 and M.A. in 1932 at
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...
and a Ph.D. in American literature at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1947.
Academic career
He taught at the
University of Nebraska
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
from 1936 to 1939 and
Suffolk University
Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a l ...
from 1939 to 1942. He taught at
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
from 1944 to 1947 and Auburn University from 1947 to 1993. He was a
Fulbright
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
lecturer at the University of Salonika, Greece during 1956-1958. He wrote the ''Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Southern Literature'' published by the
Louisiana State University Press
The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univ ...
in 1969.
The Eugene Current-Garcia Award
The Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Alabama's Distinguished Literary Scholar is awarded annually at the Monroeville Literary Festival. Winners are selected by the Association of College English Teachers of Alabama, and include:
2018 Dr. David Cowart,
2017 Kirk Curnutt,
2016 Frye Gaillard,
2015 Eric Sterling,
2014
Wayne Flynt
James Wayne Flynt (born October 4, 1940) is University Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Auburn University. He has won numerous teaching awards and been a Distinguished University Professor for many years. His research focuses ...
,
2013
Sue Brannan Walker
Sue Brannan Walker, (born 1940) is a poet, author and editor. In 2015 she is the Stokes Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama. She is a former Poet Laureate of AlabamaRalph Voss,
2009 John H. Hafner,
2008 Norman MacMillan,
2007 Elaine W. Hughes,
2006 Nancy Grisham Anderson,
2005 Robert Halli (Dr. Bob Halli),
2004 Benjamin Buford Williams,
2003 J. William Hutchings,
2002 Trudier Harris,
2001 Bert Hitchcock,
2000 Don Noble,
1999 Philip Beidler, and
1998
Claudia Durst Johnson
Claudia Durst Johnson is a literary scholar best known for her work on the novel ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', introducing the idea of the novel's gothicism and gothic satire. In the process of her research she befriended the author, Harper Lee. When ...
.
Publications
Books by Current-Garcia include: ''O. Henry'' in 1965 and ''O. Henry: A Study of the Short Fiction'' in 1993, part of Twayne's ''Studies in Short Fiction''. As part of the same series he wrote ''American Short Stories; 1820 to the Present'' in 1952, and in 1985 he wrote ''The American Short Story before 1850: A Critical History.'' Other books include ''Realism and romanticism in fiction : an approach to the novel'', published in 1962, and the joint publication, ''What is the Short Story?'' in 1961. Twayne publishing was acquired by
Gale (publisher)
Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007.
The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gr ...
in 1999 and is one of the imprints of Gale and its parent company
Cengage Learning
Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...
.
Eugene Current-Garcia, Hargis Professor Emeritus of American Literature at Auburn University, first entered the pages of Alabama Heritage Magazine in spring 1987, when he published "Mr. Spirit and His Alabama Wits," an article about Southwestern humorists
Johnson J. Hooper
Johnson Jones Hooper (June 9, 1815 – June 7, 1862) was an American lawyer and writer from Alabama known for his humorist works set in what was then known as the Southwest of America, particularly the collection of stories published as ''Adv ...
and John Barr. In his second article for Alabama Heritage Magazine, Current-Garcia focused his attention on nineteenth-century Alabama wit Joseph Glover Baldwin.
Professor Current-Garcia was especially interested in Southern humorous writers. He wrote "Newspaper Humor in the Old South, 1835-1855" for The Alabama Review. "Southern literature is greatly indebted to these humorists," said Current-Garcia. "The foremost writer we have in modem fiction is William Faulkner, who drew a great deal from Southwestern humor." Current-Garcia was also co-editor of ''American Short Stories'', for several decades the preeminent short story anthology used in colleges and universities. First published in 1952 by Scott, Foresman & Company, ''American Short Stories'' was co-edited with fellow Auburn professor Bert Hitchcock. In 2001, Hitchcock was the recipient of the ''Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Distinguished Alabama Literary Scholarship'' from the Association of College English Teachers of Alabama.
Biography
Eugene Current-Garcia was born July 8, 1908, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents were Joseph Robustiano and Bertha (Ehrhardt) Current-Garcia. He married Alva Garrett on June 18, 1935, and they had three children. He joined the Auburn faculty in 1947 after completing his studies at Tulane and Harvard. He became Hargis Professor Emeritus of American Literature at Auburn University. He died January 1, 1995.