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 In Memoriam
William F. Van Wert
On December 30, 2003, the Temple English Department lost a valued colleague,
teacher, and mentor when Dr. Bill Van Wert passed away. A professor at Temple since
receiving his doctorate in 1975, Dr. Van Wert taught a variety of classes in the English
department, from undergraduate film studies courses to graduate creative writing
tutorials. He was the author of several novels (What's It All About, Stool Wives,
Don Quixote), collections of short stories (Tales for Expectant Fathers,
Missing in Action, The Advancement of Ignorance), poetry collections
(The Invention of Ice Skating, Proper Myth, Vital Signs), and a
collection of essays (Memory Links). In addition, he has also published extensively
in the area of film studies. For these achievements, he was recognized as Laura Carnell
Professor in Spring 2000, and was serving as the director of undergraduate English studies
at the time of his death. His death is a profound loss to the department and the college,
both faculty and students.
Those close to Bill know that he was deeply committed to the
development of his students as writers. With this in mind, his family has planned
a memorial fund to benefit creative writing students at Temple University. Donations
for the fund should be made payable to “Temple University (for Bill Van Wert)”
and sent to:
The English Faculty Association
c/o Gloria Basmajian
Temple University English Department
Anderson Hall, 10th Floor (022-29)
1114 W. Berks St.
Philadelphia, PA 19122-6090
This web page gathers together memorials and reminisces of Bill Van Wert,
submitted by colleagues and students. If you would like to contribute to this page, please
contact the web manager.
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Dance Etiquette
 They never speak to me, the dead,
Except when I am most alive—
the laughter after special sex,
the maples bleeding in the fall,
my father’s handshake when I leave,
the tufts of winter snow like wool,
my children grateful on my knee,
mimosas assaulting the bees in spring,
friends who call from years ago
to remember something that I said,
the silence of a summer lake,
a lake becalmed that clears its throat
by bass breaking water. Then,
when I am most alert, they speak to me.
They tell me I am dying too,
As though they were jealous.
As though they were all alone
And waiting for just the right moment
To ask me to dance. I stall,
defer, make any excuse to get away.
I say when all the music’s done
then I’ll dance with them.
They seem pleased at the show of will.
They stall, defer, make every excuse
to get away, as though they were
mirroring me. They know that I know
it’s not the dancing that interests them,
but all the musical stops.
William Van Wert
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Obituaries & Memorials
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Personal Memories
To contribute a memory of Prof. Van Wert, contact the web manager.
- Bill VanWert was never a prof. of mine but
I have memories of how bright he was and of how generous he was with
what he knew. I remember that he smiled and acknowledged students
in a gentle way and somehow appeared wise for it.
Also, he'd sat in on a seminar a couple of
times and he'd spoken up during a few discussions. I really
liked the form he found for his thoughts. For no other
reason than that I admired VanWert, I asked other grad.
students about him here and there, and a couple of days in a
row I went to the library for a few hours to read his novels
and his lit. crit. So by the time I went to one of his
readings in Anderson Hall, I was as curious about his
personality as I was with his intellectual interests.
- Other professors get scrutinized in these sort of underground
ways, and when grad. students ask about profs, or other
students' opinions of them, they do these things out of
admiration. We want to be influenced by them, I suppose.
And for me, Professor VanWert was a lot like what I'd like to
be some day.
- I appreciate the chance to say something about Professor
VanWert- he remains a special man to me despite his passing.
- I remember attending the study abroad fair last year. After
perusing the many tables that offered programs in Spain,
decorated with fanfare and prestigious names such as
Middlebury, I reached Bill Van Wert's table with a lone flyer
and sign-up sheet. He was so excited about the program.
Incidentally, that program is one of the most memorable
experiences of my life because of Bill's friendship.
Throughout the trip he demonstrated his love for life and
fearlesness to try new things. He befriended me and
especially after attending his memorial service I feel so
incredibly lucky to have known him. In particular, I
remember his in-your-face humor, the way he took zillions of
pictures on the trip, our interesting discussions when we
went to lunch during siesta time, and how he always raved
about his girlfriend and sons. His career and academic advice
will always stay with me--not to mention the way he valued
his family and friends more than anything.
- I am stunned at the news of Professor Van Wert's
untimely death. He was such an inspiration to me and countless other
English majors throughout my final semesters at Temple. I remember how
excited he was when I told him I would be attending law school -- although
he relentlessly tried to persuade me to apply for graduate studies in
English at Temple.
- As an adult student with many years of working
experience who returned to complete the final stages of undergraduate
education on a full-time basis, Professor Van Wert was especially
sensitive and caring to my intellectual and emotional circumstances.
His classroom offered a challenging environment to express new ideas
and concepts in English at a myriad of levels. As a rule, the
intellectual and dialogic capacity of his classroom was always
cutting edge. Indeed, I enjoyed his International Film Class so much
over the Summer of 2002 that I promptly registered for his Art of
Film course in the Fall of 2002.
- Professor Van Wert's presence during my final
semester at Temple was almost continuous. In addition to his challenging
course on film (English 170) and running into him throughout the day at
Anderson Hall, he was a visible presence in a graduate course on fictional
permutation's instructed by Dr. Sue-Im Lee that I was participating in
for an independent study credit. Professor Van Wert showed us film and
assisted on our study and interpretation of Robbe-Grillet's novel,
Jealousy. This again was one of many examples where Professor
Van Wert was so generous with his time and caring for all students --
from the novice to the most advanced.
- Lastly, I will always remember Professor Van
Wert's smile, sense of humor, commitment to education/professionalism
and his passion for the directors Peter Greenaway and Atom Egoyan, as
well as the music of Michael Nyman. In short, Professor Van Wert was
a remarkable gentlemen, afficianado of the arts and a remarkable scholar
who left a lasting legacy for both Temple University and his many
students. My heart goes out to his family and friends at this time
of grief.
- I am at the bar in Solaris Grill in Chestnut Hill. I’m not sitting with
anyone—the bar is empty this time of day. I have a lot to think about. . . . When
I first moved to Philadelphia in 1997 it took me five weeks to get a job.
Having just graduated from Central Connecticut State University I moved to Philly
to be closer to my high school friend, Angela. I naively handed my resume to
the front desks of Philadelphia Magazine and WHYY believing I was qualified for
some sort of job; after all, that English BA had to be good for something
other than serving sub-mediocre food to less-than-fine diners at an area
Friendly’s.
- After four weeks of hitting the pavement and handing my resumes to people who
politely placed it in the circular file, I was defeated. It only took a week
for the Chestnut Hill Borders to hire me. It wasn’t so bad. I moved to the
Chestnut Hill area as a way of weaning myself into city-life. The horn blasts and
urine-soaked subways of Center City were a sensory overload.
- It was in that Borders, my fourth month of working, where I met poet Susan
Stewart. We had a brief conversation, but in those few moments I explained to
her that I was applying to the Creative Writing MA program at Temple University.
Ms. Stewart gave me a heads- up. “Bill Van Wert is one of the writers in the
program. He’s terrific.”
- Ms. Stewart was right.
- Dr. Van Wert and I met up for coffee two weeks after classes began. He lived
in Mt. Airy and was always willing to make time for a good conversation and
hot coffee. We were sitting in the café of the Chestnut Hill Borders. The
conversation flowed; we spoke of the Modernists, Post-Modernists and the comparison
between filmmakers and novelists. Dr. Van Wert was the kind of man who could
hold your attention in a conversation and never bore you.
- A few weeks ago Dr. Van Wert was admitted to the Chestnut Hill Hospital ICU
to recover from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. On December 30 Dr. Van Wert, only
in his 50s, passed away at 1:30 p.m. from a pulmonary embolism. The news was
delivered to me via an email I received two days later.
- Shock doesn’t even come close to how I felt. . . . This was all wrong. I sat
in front of my computer thinking of all our conversations — the long ones at
Borders, Starbucks or in his office; the short ones outside of class; the
quickies as I passed him carrying a coffee and a bagged sandwich up to his office.
Even the conversations I had with him after I graduated when he kept telling
me to call him Bill, but out of respect I preferred Dr. Van Wert. And now that respect holds all the memories I have of Dr. Van Wert. Respect
for his command of language; respect for his ability to provide positive
criticism for a student’s work; respect for someone imbued with a Midwestern
friendliness, kind nature and an amazing ability to foster creativity in a person.
- *****
- I order another Jameson’s. The smell reminds me of the time I read a short
story of mine at the Temple Gallery. Dr. Van Wert was sitting up front, smiling,
his head tilted so his good ear could pick up everything I read too fast. His
response to me after the reading: “That was fantastic, Jimmy.” A few months later, after Dr. Van Wert returned from a summer session in
Italy, we met at Starbucks, 8 a.m. The topic of conversation: grad school. Should
I move on for a Ph.D.? After an hour-and-a-half, he convinced me. “Head west,
Jimmy. Some great schools out there, and so many of the writers you love write
about that region.” He was gentle in his persuasion.
- I’m going to miss Dr. Van Wert very much. He added so much kindness and color
to the world. What a loss. . . What a great loss.
- The entire first year fiction class would like to send its
condolences to the department for the loss of Bill Van Wert.
None of us had the opportunity to work with Bill, although we
were all looking forward to it. At every meeting with him,
he displayed qualites of decency, intelligence and most
exciting for us, a real enthusiasm for his students. His
absence is a loss for us all.
- I met Bill VanWert
in the summer of 1984 at a party to
welcome the first Creative Writing class at Temple. I was a
member of that class, returning to school after a long
absence determined to be a short story writer.
- I
was surprised to learn that Bill was raising three little
boys by himself. I think Ian, the oldest was about eight
then. After getting the boys off to school and doing other
domestic chores, Bill would come to class with an enormous
container of black coffee, a pack of marlboros and a great
gentle personality. He wrote at all hours of the night but
was always kind to me when I dropped off stories or called
him in the morning at 8 or 9. Bill was the kindest critic
but he did criticize. I still have the stories I submitted
in ’84 and ’85 with his notes and I still have the paper on
which he wrote all the things I had to avoid doing if I
wanted my writing to improve. I eventually graduated from
the program and stayed at Temple to get my Ph.D. All my
electives were spent in Bill’s writing classes. He was
someone whom I admired, at first, for his brilliance and
skill as a writer but as the years went on I admired him much
more for his courage in the face of illness and his
gentleness and sense of humor that made me and many people
smile just to see him in the hall. I will always be grateful
to him for helping me achieve my goals and for teaching me to
never let life’s twists and turns destroy my sense of humaness.
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