Jim Merod
Jim Merod, PhD
Faculty - Undergraduate
Jim Merod points to a series of remarkable teachers who deeply influenced his intellectual career: R. P. Blackmur and Walter Kaufman at Princeton; William Arrowsmith and Harold Bloom at Middlebury College; David Halliburton and Bliss Carnochan at Stanford; and A. R. Ammons, his friend, and colleague at Cornell.
In addition to his work as a teacher, critic, and writer, Jim has been a jazz and blues recording and mastering engineer for more than 20 years. His recording credits include Tito Puente, Joe Lovano, Tommy Flanagan, Sarah Vaughan, Eddie Palmieri, Wynton Marsalis, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Tolu, Los Lobos, Ozomatli, Luciana Souza, and many others. Jim is the co-author of legendary composer-saxophonist Benny Golson’s autobiography.
- PhD, Stanford University
- BA, Princeton University
- Modes of Inquiry
- Nineteenth Century American Literature
- Core: Enduring Questions
- Philosophy and Literature
- Literature of the Americas
- Introduction to Literature
- Contemporary Literature and Criticism
- Learning Cluster
- Miles Davis and the Jazz Tradition
- Billie Holiday: Achievement and Legacy
- Melville and Nietzsche
- Jazz Paradigms, Narrative Embodiments
- Benny Golson's autobiography
- Golson, Benny, and Jim Merod. Whisper Not: The Autobiography of Benny Golson. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, 2016.
- Merod, Jim. “Reassessment.” The A-Line Journal: A Journal of Progressive Thought 1, no. 3-4 (August 2018).
- Merod, Jim. “At Shakespeare’s Bed.” The A-Line Journal: A Journal of Progressive Thought 1, no. 2 (February 2018).
- Merod, Jim. “Styles of Democracy.” The A-Line Journal: A Journal of Progressive Thought 1, no. 2 (February 2018).
- Merod, Jim. “Freedom’s Changing Shape.” The A-Line Journal: A Journal of Progressive Thought1, no. 1 (November 2017).
- Merod, Jim. “Future Grotesque.” The A-Line Journal: A Journal of Progressive Thought 1, no. 1 (November 2017).
- Merod, Jim. “Or, The Whale.” boundary 2: An International Journal of Literature and Culture 41, no. 2 (Summer 2014): 18-20.
- Merod, Jim. “Benny Golson and John Coltrane.” boundary 2: An International Journal of Literature and Culture 41, no. 3 (Fall 2014): 93-122.The Political Responsibility of the Critic, Cornell Univ. Press, 1987
- Jazz as a Cultural Archive, Duke Univ. Press, 1995
- “Resistance to Theory,” in Critical Theory and Performance, Reinelt and Roach, eds.; Univ. of Michigan Press, 1992
- “A World Without Whole Notes,” Boundary 2 (vol. 18, no. 2; Summer '91); Duke Univ. Press, 1992
- “Postmodern Economics and Academic Cyberspace,” Boundary 2 (vol. 21, no.3 Fall '94); Duke Univ. Press, 1994
- “Trumpet Madness: Reflections of Jazz Photography,” Journal of Urban and Cultural Studies (vol. one, no. 2 1990); Univ. Massachusetts, 1990
- “The Question of Miles Davis,” Boundary 2 (vol. 28, no. 2 Summer 2001); Duke Univ. Press, 2001
- “Forward Motion,” The Jazz Cadence of American Culture, ed. Robert G. O'Meally, Columbia Univ. Press, 2000
- “Pulling it All Together,” Ocotillo (vol. one, no. 1), 1996
- “Lyrical Abstractions of Edward Said,” Boundary 2 (vol. 25, no. 2 Summer '98) Duke Univ. Press, 1998
- 2003-present, Professor, Soka University of America
- 1979-1986, Professor of Literature & Humanities, Brandeis University
- 1972-1979, Professor of Literature & Critical Theory, Cornell University
- 1981, Visiting Professor of Literature & Criticism, Brown University
- Summer 1973, Professor of English & American Literature, Stanford University
- Summer 1972, Professor of Critical Theory, UCLA
- Bausch & Lomb Award, 1960
- Harvard Book Award, 1960
- Science, Technology & Humanities Fellow, Cornell, 1974-75
- Humanities Research Institute Fellow, Univ. of California, Irvine, 1989-90
- Michael Walzer Teaching Award, Brandeis, 1985
- Professor of the Year, SUA, 2003
- Honors, Princeton; Distinction, Stanford