About

William Park was born in Philadelphia in 1930 and grew up in Miami. After graduating from Princeton, he served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. He gained his doctorate in English Literature at Columbia University while teaching at Columbia and Hamilton College. Then for thirty-eight years at Sarah Lawrence College he taught English Literature and co-founded the Film Studies program. With his wife, the art historian Marlene Park, he retired to Santa Cruz where, after fifty-two years of marriage, she passed away. He continues to teach Literature and Film through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Santa Cruz. In 2011, he married the writer, Sylvia Thompson. Together they have eight children, twenty-one grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and an eighty-eight pound German Shepherd dog named Uschi (diminutive for Ursula, “Little Bear”).

CURRICULUM VITA

e-mail: oldnestor93@gmail.com

Education

A.B. 1951. Princeton University, cum laude.
A.M. 1954. Columbia University. Major Field: Modern American Literature.
Ph.D. 1962. Columbia University. Major Field: Eighteenth-Century English Literature. Dissertation topic: “The Mid- Eighteenth-Century Novel.” Advisor: J.L. Clifford.

Military

1951-1953. United States Marine Corps, released from active duty as a First Lieutenant. Honorably discharged from the Reserves in 1959 as a Captain. Letter of Commendation with Combat “V.”

Teaching

1954-1957: Instructor in English, Hamilton College.
1957-1962: Lecturer and Instructor in English, Columbia College, Columbia University.
1962-2000: Faculty of Literature, Sarah Lawrence College.
2002, 2003: Visiting Professor, University of Navarre.
2017-Present: Lecturer, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Santa Cruz

Administrative

1965-1966. Initiated and taught (summer 1966) in the Sarah Lawrence Upward Bound Program.
1967, 1969, 1977-80, Chairman, Division of Literature, Language, and Writing.
1966-1970. Founder and Co-Director, Sarah Lawrence Summer School in London.

Awards and Honors

Class of 1894 Scholarship, Princeton University.
Grant-in-Aid, Columbia University Graduate Faculty, 1954.
Grant-in-Aid, American Council of Learned Societies, 1968.
Hewlett-Mellon Fellowship, Sarah Lawrence College, 1982, 1990.
Esther Raushenbush Chair of Humanities, 1985 – 1990.
FlikTravelling Grant, summer 1998
“Best Review of 1998” Catholic National Press Association Award

Publications

The College Anthology of British and American Poetry, 1964, 1972.
The Idea of Rococo, 1992
Hollywood: An Epic Production, >2003
Newman on the Bible, >2006
What Is Film Noir?,2011
A New Species of Writing, 2022

Numerous articles on the eighteenth-century novel and on film in magazines such as PMLA, Philological Quarterly, Studies in the Novel, The Hudson Review, Velvet Light Trap, and the Journal of Popular Film. Regular film reviewer for >Position Papers, an Irish monthly magazine.

WORKS OF WILLIAM PARK

BOOKS AUTHORED

The Idea of Rococo. Cranbury, NJ: University of Delaware Press; Associated University Presses, 1993.

Hollywood: An Epic Production. Portland, OR: Franklin Street Books, 2003.

What Is Film Noir? Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2011.

The New Species of Writing. Santa Monica, CA: GSD Productions, 2020.

BOOKS EDITED

With A. Kent Hieatt, The College Anthology of British and American Poetry. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1964. 2nd Edition, 1970.

Newman on the Bible. New York: Scepter Publishers, Inc., 2006. 2^nd edition, 2019.

Park, Marlene. Writing for Sanity. Foreword by William Park. Portland, Oregon: Inkwater Press, 2012.

ARTICLES: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

“Fielding and Richardson.” PMLA, 81 (1966): 381-88. Reprinted in part in Twentieth-Century Interpretations of Pamela edited by Rosemary Cowler, 113-15. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1969.

“Fathers and Sons – Humphry Clinker,”
Literature and Psychology 16 (1966): 166-74. Reprinted in the Norton Critical Edition of Humphry Clinker, edited by James L. Thorson, 362-72. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1983.

“Change in the Criticism of the Novel after 1760.” Philological Quarterly 46 (1967): 34-41.

“What was New About ‘The New Species of Writing’?” Studies in the Novel 2 (1970): 112-130.

“Tristram Shandy and the New ‘Novel of Sensibility’.” Studies in the Novel 6 (Fall 1974): 268-79. Reprinted in Laurence Sterne, edited by Gerd Rohmann, 122-34. Darmstadt: Wissenchaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1980.

“Tom and Oedipus.” Hartford Studies in Literature 7, no. 3 (1975): 207-15.

“Clarissa as Tragedy.” Studies in English Literature 16 (1976): 461-71.

“The Two Readers of Tom Jones.” Enlightenment Essays 5, nos. 3/4 (Fall-Winter 1974): 43-48. Published in June, 1977.

“Ironist and Moralist: The Two Readers of Tom Jones.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 8 (1979): 233-42.

“Rococo and the Novel.” Studies in the Novel. 19 (1987): 125-36.

“Rococo and Neo-Palladian.” Etudes Anglaises 42, no.2 (Avril-Juin 1989): 151-67.

With Lisa M. Parker, “Pope in Yonkers.” The Scriblerian 28 (Autumn 1995 – Spring 1996): 71-76.

REVIEWS: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Review of British Architectural Books and Writers, 1556 – 1785 by Eileen Harris. The Scriblerian, 24 (Autumn 1991): 86.

Review of Music and Theatre: Essays in Honour of Winton Dean, ed. Nigel Fortune, 223-24. The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography, n.s. 13 – for 1987. New York: AMS Press, 1994.

Review of Patrick Brady, Rococo Poetry. 1650-1850 2 (August 1996): 343-44.

Review of Tom Jones: Adventure and Providence by Patrick Reilly, 203. The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography n.s. 17 – for 1991. New York: AMS Press, 1998.

ARTICLES: FILM

“007 – License to Love,” Sarah Lawrence Journal (Spring 1966): 42-47 (Co-author Marlene Park)

“Cowboys and Indians.” Sarah Lawrence Journal (Fall 1968): 33-42.

“Doris Day, or Virtue Rewarded.” Sarah Lawrence Journal (Winter 1968): 40-48.

“Teaching the Movies.” Sarah Lawrence Alumnae Magazine (Winter 1968), 11-14.

“To Fred and Ginger with Love.” Sarah Lawrence Journal (Spring 1970): 21-29.

“Pure Cinema.” Essays from Sarah Lawrence Faculty (September 1972).

“The Losing of the West.” The Velvet Light Trap 12 (Spring 1974): 2-5.

“An Apology for John Ford.” SLC Tribune 1, no. 7 (February 28, 1975): 3.

“The Police State.” The Journal of Popular Film 6, no. 3 (1978): 229-37.

“The End of Popular Film.” New Observations 36 (1985): 13-15.

“The Madwoman in the Loft: Fatal Attraction.” The Hudson Review 41 (1988): 197-202. (Co-author Gilberto Perez)

“Has Hollywood Lost Touch with Its Audience.” Perspective (October 1993): 26-7. [Review of Michael Medved’s Hollywood vs. America]

“The Capra Story.” The Edge City Review 1 (January 1994): 27-33.

“The Twenty Best Catholic Films.” Crisis 13, no.3 (March 1995): 49-50. Reprinted in AD 2000 8, no. 8 (September 1995): 8-9.

“Twenty More Best Catholic Films.” Crisis 13, no. 9 (October 1995): 50-52.

“The Fifty Best Catholic Movies of All Time.” Crisis 15, no. 10 (November 1997): 82-91.

Review of Hollywood’s New Deal by Giuliana Muscio. The Journal of American History (December 1997): 1124.

“Man in the Machine Age, Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times.” Nexus: The Grapes of Wrath & The American Dream, 13-15. Cleveland: Pallas Communications, 1998.

“Oscar night: vain, vulgar, and unmissable,” Mercator.net (26 February 2007).

“Murray B. Jordan.” CineMontage Volume 7 No 3 (Q3 2018): 72.

REVIEWS: FILM

“Film Review Harlem Nights.” Aceprensa (28 February 1990): 3.

“Film Reviews” [License to Kill and Do the Right Thing]. Position Paper 195 (March 1990): 117-120.

“Film Reviews” [Dead Poet’s Society and Batman]. Position Paper 196 (April 1990): 157-60.

Review of The Music Box. The Perspective Dossier 16 (April 1990): 3-4.

“Film Reviews” [The Music Box and Glory]. Position Paper 197 (May 1990): 198-200.

“Film Reviews” [Harlem Nights and The Hunt for Red October]. Position Paper 198/199 (June/ July 1990): 278-80.

Reviews of Glory and The Hunt for Red October. Perspective 16, no.2 (May 1990): 14-15.

Review of Die Hard 2. The Perspective Dossier 16 (August 1990): 4.

Review of Total Recall. The Perspective Dossier 16 (October 1990): 4.

“Film Reviews” [Total Recall, Cinema Paradiso, Dick Tracy, Die Hard 2]. Position Paper 202 (October 1990): 355-59.

Review of Dances with Wolves. The Perspective Dossier 17 (February 1991): 4.

“Dances with Wolves.” Position Paper 205 (January 1991): 39-40.

Review of The Silence of the Lambs. Perspective, no.2 (1991): 14.

“Three Popular Films.” [Godfather III, Grifters, Silence of the Lambs] Position Paper 209 (May 1991): 199-200.

“Only the Lonely.” Position Paper 212/213 (August/September 1991): 256.

Reviews of Thelma and Louise, Regarding Henry, and Terminator 2. Position Paper 215 (November 1991): 358-60.

Review of Black Robe. Perspective 18, no.1 (1992): 14.

“Film Reviews” [Black Robe and Point Break]. Position Paper 220 (April 1992): 158-60.

“Film Reviews” [Patriot Games and The Player]. Position Paper 226 (October 1992): 332-36.

“Malcolm X.” Position Paper 230 (February 1993): 77-80.

“Groundhog Day.” Position Paper 233 (May 1993: 203-04. Reprinted in The Perspective Dossier, 19 (June 1993): 4.

“Sleepless in Seattle.” Position Paper 240 (December 1993): 409-12.

“Schindler’s List.” Position Paper 243 (March 1994): 117-120.

“River Wild.” Position Paper 252 (December 1994):408.

“Quiz Show.” Position Paper 253 (January 1995): 35-36.”

“The Madness of King George.” Position Paper 257 (May 1995): 180.

“Film Reviews” [Kids, Apollo 13, The Net]. Position Paper 263 (November 1995): 323-24.

“Mr. Holland’s Opus.” Position Paper 269 (May 1996): 179-180.

“The American President.” Position Paper 272/73 (August/September1996): 258-260.

“Fargo.” Position Paper 274 (October 1996): 295-96.

“A Time to Kill.“ Position Paper 276 (December 1996): 366-68.

“Romantic Comedy in the Nineties: My Best Friend’s Wedding.” Position Paper 286 (October 1997): 294-96.

“Air Force One.” Position Paper 287 (November 1997): 330-32.

“In & Out.” Position Paper 290 (February 1998): 69-71.

“Titanic.” Position Paper 292 (April 1998): 143-44.

“The Apostle.” Position Paper 294/295 (June/July 1998): 215-16.

“The Truman Show.” Position Paper 298 (October 1998): 285-88.

“Saving Private Ryan.” Position Paper 299 (November 1998):323-24.

“Prince of Egypt.” Position Paper 303 (March 1999): 102.

“On Reviewing Contemporary Films.” Position Paper 304 (April 1999): 143-44.

“Life is Beautiful.” Position Paper 305 (May 1999): 179-80.

“The Sixth Sense.” Position Paper 311 (November 1999): 317-18.

“The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Position Paper 316 (April 2000): 143-44.

“The Patriot.” Position Paper 322 (October 2000): 287-88.

“The Gladiator.“ Position Paper 323 (November 2000): 323-24.

“Cast Away.“ Position Paper 327 (March 2001): 107-108.

“Two Satires” [Best in Show, State and Main]. Position Paper 329 (May 2001): 179-180.

“What Women Want.” Position Paper 328 (April 2001): 143-44; reprinted in family tone. 2 (June-August 2003): 8-9.

“Traffic.” Position Paper 330/331 (June/July 2001): 215-16.

“A.I.; Artificial Intelligence.” Position Paper 334 (October 2001): 287-88.

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Position Paper 337 (January 2002): 35-36.

“Ocean’s Eleven.” Position Paper 338 (February 2002): 71-72.

“The Man Who Wasn’t There.” Position Paper 339 (March 2002): 107-8.

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Position Paper 347 (November 2002): 323-24; reprinted in family tone 1 (March-May 2003):10-11.“Signs” Position Paper 348 (December 2002): 355-65.

“Insomnia.” Position Paper 346 (October, 2002): 285-86.

“Signs.” Position Paper 348 (December, 2002): 355-65.

“Bowling for Columbine.” Position Paper 349 (January, 2003): 35-36.

“Bruce Almighty.” Position Paper 358 (October 2003):269-70.

“Park’s Law” [Seabiscuit]. Position Paper 359 (November 2003): 317-18.

“Two films about justice” [Mystic River, Runaway Jury] Position Paper 361 (January 2004): 24,18.

“Lost in Translation.” Position Paper 362 (February 2004):71-72.

“The Passion of the Christ: Five Questions.” Position Paper 363 (March 2004):101-03.

“Love Actually.” Position Paper 364 (April 2004): 127-28; reprinted in family tone 1 (September 2004): 4-5.

“Postscript to ‘Five Questions’ about The Passion of the Christ.” Position Paper 368/9 (August/September 2004): 251-52.

“Fahrenheit 9/11.” Position Paper 370 (October 2004): 286-88.

“The Aviator.” Position Paper 375 (March 2005): 106-08.

“The March of the Penguins.” Position Paper 382 (October 2005): 297-98, 279.

“Cinderella Man.” Position Paper 384 (December 2005):369-70, 376.

“Good Night and Good Luck.” Position Paper 385 (January 2006): 29-31.

“Munich.” Position Paper 386 (February 2006): 67-8.

“Match Point.” Position Paper 387 (March 2006): 97-8.

“The Da Vinci Code.” Position Paper 390 /391 (June/July 2006): 201-03.

“The Devil Wears Prada.” Position Paper 394 (October 2006): 283-84,288. Reprinted in Perspective (Spring 2006): 30.

“The Queen.” Position Paper 397 (January 2007): 25-6.

“Bourne again.” Mercator.net (September 8, 2007); Position Paper 407 (November 2007): 319-21,24.

“American Gangster,” Mercator.net (November 25, 2007); Position Paper 412 (April 2008): 145-48.

“No Country for Old Men.” Mercator.net (December 2, 2007); Position Paper 409 (January 2008): 26-30.

“Ghost Town.” Position Paper 421 (January 2009): 39-40.

“Informant!” Mercator.net (October 3, 2009); Position Paper 432 (December 2009): 393-94.

“Capitalism: A Love Story.” Mercator.net (October 9, 2009); Position Paper 433 (January 2010): 30-32.

“Gran Torino.” Position Paper 431 (November 2009): 354-57.

“Invictus,”Mercator.net (December 23, 2009). Position Paper 435 (March, 2010): 110-12.

“Robin Hood.” Mercator.net (May 28, 2010).

ARTICLES: NATURE

“Rehabilitation or Defoliation.” Emanon (January 29, 1970): 6.

“Yellow Throat Warblers in your own Backyard.” SLC Tribune 3, no. 12 (February 10, 1977): 3.

“Monterey Peninsula, December 2,” “SCBC Field Reports.” The Albatross. 46, no.4 (Mar/Apr 01): 10.

“Ano Nuevo, Saturday, November 10^th,” “SCBC Field Reports.” The Albatross 47, no.3 (Jan/Feb 02): 11.

Editor, The Albatross .49, no.1 (Sep/Oct 03) – 51, no. 5 (May/Aug 07).

“States’ Flights: Birds on Quarters.” Albatross 53, no. 3 (Jan/Feb 08): 18.

“Birds on Quarters,” Albatross 54, no.2 (Nov/Dec 09): 18.

Birds in the movies: The Big Year,” The Albatross, 56, no. 3 (Jan/Feb 2012): 9-10

ARTICLES: POLEMICS

With Carl Resek and Harvey Swados, “Strikers Supported at Bronxville Hospital.” The New York Times (February 11, 1965). [Letters to the Editor]

“Why Eve?” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 35, nos. 2 & 3 (1991): 127-135.

“The New Paganism.” Catholic Position Papers 242 (September 1995). Translated (abridged) into German as “Neues Heidentum macht sich im Zentrum der Christenheit breit.” Werte und Wandel, Westfalen-Blatt (14 September 1996): 3-5. Reprinted in Perspective (October 1966): 26-31. Reprinted in Stets war es der Hund, der starb…: Die Kirche zur Jahrtausendwende Gefahren, Irrewege und Perspektiven. Aachen: MM Verlag, 1998): 55-72. Reprinted (abridged) in Catholic Position Papers 373 (January 2007).

“Catholic Church Must Remain True to Itself.” New York Times (December 2, 1995): 20.

“Letter to the Editor.” [Peter Singer] Princeton Alumni Weekly (January 27, 1999):5.

“Sidewalk money better spent elsewhere.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (August 31, 2001): A, 13.

“Dowd’s Got It Wrong.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (April8, 2002) A, 13.

“Opus Dei story clarified.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (February 1, 2004), F, 4.

“Eastwood’s dark role.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (March 24, 2005: A 9.

“Aesthetics 101.” Poetica & Cristianesimo, ed. Rafael Jimenez Catano and Juan Jose Garcia-Noblejas, 131-147. Rome: Edizioni Universita Della Santa Croce, 2004.

“Life is a Bowl of Education.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (March 28, 2006): A 13.

“Pagano will always oppose PCS, period.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (December 1, 2006): A 13.

“How Literature Reveals Intelligent Design.” Mercator.net (October 12, 2007).

“Pot decriminalization hinders law enforcement.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (November 15, 2009): A18.

“This town has its priorities in the wrong place.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (October 14, 2014): A6.

“Respect for Women’s Writing.” Princeton Alumni Weekly (October 22, 2014): 5-6.

“Brown must reform the corrupt UC system.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (November 23, 2014): D 1.

POETRY

“Hollywood,”
[first 19 lines, plus a mutilated 20th] in Silver Linings, ed. Todd Thompson, Washington, D.C.: World Poetry Association, 1998, p. 105.

“The Ballad of Herb.” 50 Years of Life in Song (January 30, 1999). Port Jewish Center, N.Y

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL

“William John Park.” The Revolutionary Reunion: 1951’s Twenty Fifth (Doylestown, PA: Gardy Printing Company, 1976): 253-54.

“William J. Park #16 remembers….” Proud Fraternity: An Oral History of the U.S. Marine Corps 10^th Special Basic Class During the Korean War, (n.d., copyright Walter J. Mahoney): 51-61.

William Park: An Oral History. Spring, 2000. SarahLawrence College Archives.

“William John Park III (Bill).” A Half-Century Later (1951-2001), (Class of 1951, Princeton University): 460-61.

“The Work of a Film Historian.” The Grandeur of Ordinary Life: Artistic Creativity; Preparatory Papers of the Workshop, 7-10. Koln: Lindenthal Institut, 2002); reprinted in Artistic Creativity, ed. Hans Thomas, 34-38. Rome: Edizioni Universita Santa Croce, 2003; reprinted in Position Papers 449 (May 2011): 15-22.

“David Rubin.” Sarah Lawrence (Spring, 2009): 6.