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Wendy Furman-Adams was born in Pasadena, CA. She
received her Ph.D. from the University of
Southern California, with an area of
specialization in non-dramatic literature of the
English Renaissance (especially Milton); and
sub-specialties in Medieval literature,
Restoration and Eighteenth-Century literature,
and Italian Renaissance art. Since coming to
Whittier in 1981, she has branched out further,
offering courses like Dante and
Twentieth-Century Irish Writers, as well as
Literature of the Bible and Greek and Roman
Literature. Professor Furman-Adams' courses are
often paired with those offered by colleagues in
History, Art History, and Philosophy. She also
enjoys teaching first-year writing seminars (her
current offering is called "Dreamers and Dreams
from Plato to the Present"), as well as
Introduction to Literature and Major British
Writers to 1789 (the department's first-semester
survey course for majors). Perhaps closest to
her heart are the courses drawing on her areas
of specialization: Dante; her senior seminar,
"Writing Renaissance Women"; and, of course,
Milton.
Professor Furman-Adams' research focuses
primarily on Milton's Paradise Lost as an
illustrated poem--a subject that requires a
focus on feminist theory and theology, as well
as on the relationship between art and
literature. Her publications--many written
collaboratively with Professor Virginia Tufte of
USC--have dealt mainly with this subject, and
have appeared in such journals as Philological
Quarterly, Huntington Library Quarterly,
Milton
Quarterly, and Milton Studies. She was also
co-editor of Renaissance Rereadings: Intertext
and Context (U of Illinois P, 1988) and Riven
Unities: Authority and Experience, Self and
Other in Milton's Poetry (Milton Studies 28, U
of Pittsburgh P, 1992). She and Professor Tufte
are working on two book-length studies on Milton
and the nearly 200 artists who have illustrated
his poetry since the seventeenth century:
Visualizing Paradise Lost: Artists as
Interpreters, which surveys the long history of
Milton illustration, and Re-Visions: Women
Artists Reading Paradise Lost.
In 1982 Professor Furman-Adams was elected
Secretary-Treasurer of the Renaissance
Conference of Southern California (the regional
affiliate of the interdisciplinary Renaissance
Society of America), and served as President in
1988 - 89. In Fall 1987, she served as faculty
advisor to students at the DiS Program in
Copenhagen, and from 1992 to 1993 as Vice
President for Academic Affairs/ Dean of Faculty.
She has also served as English Department Chair,
and is currently Coordinator for Whittier's
Women's Studies Program.
Professor Furman-Adams is married to Whittier
College professor Charles Adams. They live in
Whittier with their daughter Jacqueline (born in
1990) and Scottish Terrier Angus. They love to
travel (especially in Mexico and Europe), to
read, and to spend time with family in the
Northwest (between Olympia and Seattle).
Professor Furman-Adams also loves to run, and
has recently been enjoying a class on campus in pilates and yoga. |
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