The Department of Classics is very pleased to announce that Gareth Williams, Violin Family Professor, has been selected as the recipient of the 2017-2018 Lionel Trilling Book Award.
Lionel Trilling CC'25, GSAS'38, a faculty member from 1927-1974, was one of the most significant 20th century public intellectuals. He became nationally known for both his scholarship and his literary criticism, which appealed to a wide audience. At Columbia, Trilling was recognized as a gifted and dedicated teacher with a special commitment to undergraduate education.
The Lionel Trilling Book Award is awarded annually to a faculty member who has published, in the previous year, the book that is deemed to best exhibit the standards of intellect and scholarship found in Trilling's work.
In awarding the Lionel Trilling Book Award to Professor Williams for his work entitled Pietro Bembo on Etna: The Ascent of a Venetian Humanist, the Committee chairs wrote that the book struck them and other students on the committee "as especially moving, stylistically brilliant and accessible, as well as informative."
Professor Williams will be honored at the Trilling/Van Doren Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, May 2, 6pm-8pm in Low Library, Faculty Room. RSVP to Jessica Cubas at jcc2239@columbia.edu