Sacvan Bercovitch (1933-2014)

I have just heard the sad news that Sacvan Bercovitch has passed away. He was for many years a professor of literature at Harvard (and towards the end of his career he was the Powell M. Cabot professor of literature, which as Wikipedia notes was Perry Miller's chair -- and I'd add Alan Heimert's as well.). And before Harvard he taught at Columbia for many years. Long before I met him I was intrigued by his name (it was a conjunction of Sacco and Vanzetti). And then there were his books American Jeremiad and The Puritan Origins of the American Self, which helped me understand early American literature in a more accessible way than Miller's books. I look forward to posting more tomorrow.