M. Thomas Inge (March 18, 1936 – May 15, 2021) was an American academic. He was the Robert Emory Blackwell Professor of Humanities at Randolph–Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, where he taught, edited, and wrote about

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 ...

and culture, American humor and comic art, film and animation, Asian literature, and

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

Early life

A native of

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...

, he received his B.A. degree in English and Spanish from Randolph-Macon in 1959 and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

in 1960 and 1964 respectively.

Career

Inge taught at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

and then chaired the English departments at

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

and

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

. As a senior Fulbright Lecturer, Inge taught at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

in Spain (1967–68), at three institutions in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1971), at

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in the former Soviet Union (1979), and at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

Prague, Czech Republic Prague ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan area is home to approximately 2.3 m ...

(1994). As a Resident Scholar in American Studies with the US Information Agency, a part of the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

, he lectured and did diplomatic work in eighteen countries from 1982 to 1984, earning a commendation for distinguished work in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Inge authored or edited over sixty books and has been a pioneer in the development of

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

as a legitimate field of academic study. He was one of the founders of the Popular Culture Association. His three-volume ''Handbook of American Popular Culture'' was cited by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

as an outstanding reference work in 1979 and has been issued in revised and expanded editions in 1989 and 2002. Publications include ''William Faulkner: Overlook Illustrated Lives'' (2006), ''The Incredible Mr. Poe: Comic Book Adaptations of the Works of Edgar Allan Poe'' (2008), ''New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 9: Literature'' (2008), ''My Life with Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz'' (2010), and ''The Dixie Limited: Writers on Faulkner and His Influence'' (spring 2016). The Society for the Study of Southern Literature gave him the Richard Beale Davis Award for Lifetime Contributions to Southern Letters in 2008. He founded the journal, ''Resources for American Literary Study'', in 1971 and the Southern Studies Forum of the European Association for American Studies in 1995. Inge was also one of the founders of the American Humor Studies Association and served for four years as Editor of its journal, ''Studies in American Humor''. His work on humor includes editions of ''Sut Lovingood’s Yarns'' by Tennessee humorist George Washington Harris (1966, 1967, 1987), the Oxford World Classics edition of Mark Twain’s ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court'' (1997), and with Ed Piacentino, ''Southern Frontier Humor: An Anthology'' (2010). Some of his numerous essays on American humor have been collected in his books ''Comics as Culture'' (1990), ''The Frontier Humorists: Critical Views'' (1975), and ''Perspectives on American Culture: Essays on Humor, Literature, and the Popular Arts'' (1994).

The M. Thomas Inge Papers

The M. Thomas Inge Papers (in the Comic Arts Collection at

) include magazines, catalogs, fanzines, programs and humor publications. This collection is composed of materials collected by Dr. Inge relating to his academic studies of the comic arts, popular culture, and

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...

. The bulk of the collection is dated from the 1950s onward and is made up of many items collected by Inge covering the history of the comic arts. It includes a large collection of published and unpublished materials and ephemera items relating to the comic arts. Manuscripts by Inge and other writers are also included. The collection contains correspondence with a number of noted artists and writers, including

Art Spiegelman Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...

Mort Walker Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...

, Bruce Duncan, and Harold Foster, and comic arts scholars. The collection includes advertisements, fan club materials, posters, art prints, animation cells, comic strip and comic book samples, comic and animation character drinking glasses, numerous buttons, records, and various other collectable items. The collection is highlighted by a very large collection of reference journals including fanzines, newsletters, journals, and numerous other periodicals related to the comic arts. These periodical titles focus on the history and art of comic books and comic strips, cartoonists, comic book and comic strip characters, animation, and other aspects of the comic arts and popular culture. These materials, along with the hundreds of comic books and reference books donated by Dr. Inge, have been incorporated into their own individual collections.

Articles

* "Faulkner Reads the Funny Papers". ''Faulkner & Humor'', edited by Doreen Fowler and Ann J. Abadie. University Press of Mississippi, 1986. * "Was Krazy Kat Black? The Racial Identity of George Herriman". Inge notes the 1971 ''San Francisco Chronicle'' report that Herriman's birth certificate stated he was "colored" and considers the relevance of this fact to Herriman's life and art. ''Inks'', Volume 3, Number 2, 1996.

Books

* ''Agrarianism in American Literature'', Odyssey Press, 1969. * ''Handbook of American Popular Culture'', Greenwood Press, 1979 (reprinted in 1990). * ''Bartleby the Inscrutable: A Collection of Commentary on Herman Melville's Tale "Bartleby the Scrivener"'', editor. Hamden, Conn: Archon Books, 1979. * ''Handbook of American Popular Literature''. Greenwood Press, 1988. * ''Comics as Culture''. University Press of Mississippi, 1990. * ''Anything Can Happen in a Comic Strip: Centennial Reflections on an American Art Form''. University Press of Mississippi, 1995.

References

Sources

*Dunne, Michael. “M. Thomas Inge: A Smile All Around.” ''Pioneers in Popular Culture Studies''. Edited by Ray B. Browne and Michael T. Marsden. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1999. Pages 118-134. *Inge, M. Thomas. “A Pioneer’s Perspective.” ''The Secret Origins of Comics Studies.'' Edited by Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan. New York: Routledge, 2017. Pages 260-261 and passim. *Inge, M. Thomas. “Agrarians All! Or Southerners without Masters.” ''CrossRoads: A Southern Culture Annual 2004''. Edited by Ted Ownby. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2004. Pages 256-275. *Inge, M. Thomas. “Founding a Journal: ''Resources for American Literary Study''.” Resources for American Literary Study, 29 (2005): 1-8. *Wilson, Leslie. “M. Thomas Inge.” ''12 Conversations with American Studies Scholars''. Hollywood, CA: Press Americana, 2015. Pages 70–74.

External links

M. Thomas Inge, ''Agrarianism in American Literature''. (Yoeman's Precis)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Inge, M. Thomas 1936 births 2021 deaths Randolph–Macon College alumni Vanderbilt University alumni Randolph–Macon College faculty 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American male writers American art historians American non-fiction writers Agrarianism American male non-fiction writers Comics scholars People from Newport News, Virginia Historians from Virginia