NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ The world’s foremost historian of fire will deliver the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities Harry C. Howard Jr. Lecture on Oct. 23 at Vanderbilt University.
Stephen J. Pyne will speak on "American History, with Fire in its Eye." He is the author of many books dealing with environmental history, including "Fire: A Brief History." The professor of biology and society at Arizona State University worked for 15 seasons as a forest firefighter at the Grand Canyon.
"Stephen Pyne’s work reflects the complex relationship between humanity and nature, a tension that has existed throughout human history," said Mona C. Frederick, executive director of the Warren Center.
In conjunction with the free lecture, the Warren Center is exhibiting a series of paintings with a fire theme by Vanderbilt University Professor of Art Marilyn Murphy. The work of Murphy, a member of the executive committee of the Warren Center, frequently recalls film noir.
The free exhibition will be displayed at the Warren Center (in the Vaughn Home) from Oct. 21-24. The lecture is at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23, in 126 Wilson Hall on the Vanderbilt campus.
The Harry C. Howard Jr. Lecture Series was established in 1994 through the endowment of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Nash Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. George D. Renfo, all of Asheville, N.C. It allows the Warren Center to bring an outstanding scholar to campus once a year to lecture on a significant topic in the humanities.
The lectureship honors 1951 Vanderbilt University graduate Harry C. Howard Jr.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu