The University of New Mexico

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Contact: Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920; cgonzal@unm.edu

July 20, 2006

Scharnhorst Receives Sixth Fulbright to Germany
UNM Press publishes English prof's latest book

Gary Scharnhorst, professor of English, was recently notified that he is the recipient of his sixth Fulbright to study and teach in Germany next spring. He will teach at Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, located in the former East Germany near Weimar.

Scharnhorst goes on sabbatical in January and will travel to Europe to teach at Jena from April to July. “Their semesters do not coincide with ours,” he explained. He will teach an American Literature lecture course as well as an undergraduate/graduate seminar.

In addition to sharing his literary knowledge abroad in the classroom, Scharnhorst entertains and educates through his books. He recently published, “The Old West in the Old World: Lost Plays by Bret Harte and Sam Davis,” (UNM Press, 2006). Harte was a miner, school teacher, messenger, printer and journalist, who, while in San Francisco writing for The Californian, worked with Mark Twain. Scharnhorst has published extensively on Harte, with an emphasis on his correspondence.

Scharnhorst and his co-editor, Lawrence Berkove, describe Sam P. Davis as reporter, editor, politician, civil servant, humorist, poet, short-story writer and playwright. Also a contemporary of Twain, Davis' play, “The Prince of Timbuctoo” reveals his fondness for the theater.

Understanding of 19th and early 20th century American literature is incomplete, according to Scharnhorst and Berkove. Harte wrote some 60 plays, but most are forgotten. Davis is almost completely unknown.

The editors wrote, “This edition of lost plays will attempt to redress this neglect and make the case for renewed attention to them on the bases of literary history and literary merit.”

Gary Scharnhorst completed his Ph.D. at Purdue in 1978 and has been teaching in the English department at UNM since 1987. A Fulbright lecturer in 1978-79, 1985-86, 1993, and 2003, he is the author or editor of 34 books. He co-edits the journal American Literary Realism and edits in alternating years the research annual American Literary Scholarship.

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