After fifty years as an English professor and a decade and a half with the English department at Duke University, Professor Leonard Tennenhouse has announced his retirement. He began his career in academia at Wayne State University. Tennenhouse joined the Duke English faculty in 2008 following more than a decade at Brown University.
A year after joining the department, Professor Tennenhouse took on the role of department chair, serving from 2009-15. He became chair following a global financial crisis and during a time when enrollment across the humanities was in a decline. During his time as chair, he also served as interim DUS for a year. He served on numerous departmental and university committees that have helped improve the English department and Duke University. Professor Sarah Beckwith, who followed Tennenhouse after his second term as departmental chair, credits him for permanently opening doors for the department while maintaining order and giving so much of himself in the process.
Tennenhouse’s areas of research are Shakespeare and American and British literature. Over the course of his career, he has published numerous books and academic articles.
While at Duke, Tennenhouse taught courses in British and American literature that looked at earlier formulations of assumptions about who we are, how to live with other people, and what we pursue in the name of happiness. His “Shakespeare,” "Literature and the Pursuit of Happiness," and "Gothic Fiction and Film" courses were very popular with the student body.
"His command of the post-Elizabethan Shakespeare extends far past content. The political, social, and dramatic context he brought to class broadened my understanding of Shakespeare's works, why they were created, and how they fit into larger frameworks. From political utopias to mythical presentations of power, Professor Tennenhouse guides a class through difficult works with ease--think Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.
He encouraged me to think of characters not as isolated beings but as conduits for comments on the society and climates in which Shakespeare was writing at the time. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to be in his classroom and to have learned from him about such important works." – Sophia Cetina, '23, English major, former "Shakespeare After 1600" student
"Something I always appreciated about his teaching was his trust in the intellectual curiosity of his students. His lectures were demanding, to say the least, often dealing with the historical particularities of Elizabethan England and challenging students' assumptions about the 'relatability' of Shakespeare's characters. However, it is a testament to his skill as a professor (and to the dedication of the young adults he taught) that students always left his classes with their curiosity piqued and with a newfound appreciation for the historicity of literature." - Tye Landels, English Ph.D. candidate, Tennenhouse's Fall '22, TA for "Early Shakespeare"
Professor Julianne Werlin co-taught with Tennenhouse and shared some of her thoughts on that experience:
"Len and I co-taught "Shakespeare and His Contemporaries" in Spring 2021. It was a great privilege to teach Shakespeare and early-modern drama with someone who has thought about the subject as deeply as Len. What I most admired was the coherence of Len's approach to literary form and meaning. Len truly understands the plays as unified works; again and again, he helped students discover the underlying logic that motivates playwrights' choices. It's an approach that puts a great deal of pressure on the text and forces students to push their own powers of interpretation to the limit in order to yield fresh and surprising insights. This was something I've always admired about Len's writing, but it was extraordinary to see it unfold in action within the classroom. "
One of Professor Tennenhouse's most popular courses was "Literature and the Pursuit of Happiness." For this course, his students studied works like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, and Colson Whitehead’s, The Underground Railroad. Watching The Wizard of Oz was also a requirement for this course. Former "Pursuit of Happiness" student, Ricochet, '23, English major, commented on her experience as one of Tennenhouse's students:
English major Stephen Kim shared his experience as one of Tennenhouse's "Gothic Fiction and Film" students:
During a recent virtual panel honoring Professor Tennenhouse, Duke English Ph.D. alum Jackie Cowan commented on his outstanding mentorship:
Professor Tennenhouse's contributions to Duke English, the Duke community, and the profession are immeasurable. His former students, colleagues, and Duke English agree that we are “all the better” because of Leonard Tennenhouse's influence.
"Len gave so much to Duke's English department—so much of his energy and his rigor. He had a strong sense of what an English department should be and that it was our duty to provide for our students. Len was a profoundly kind colleague who cared about what was going on with his students and colleagues on a personal level. He would send flowers on the department's behalf to mark life events, but more than that—he would go out of his way to make sure people felt supported and safe when they were going through difficult times. He did that for me on several occasions, and I know he did for others as well.
As department chair now, I'm deeply grateful for all that he did in his two terms as chair to help the department grow and to lay the groundwork for its smooth functioning." – Charlotte Sussman, Duke English Chair
On January 17th Duke English hosted a webinar to honor Professor Tennenhouse's contributions to the department. The event featured a panel of members of the Duke community, past and present, who were his colleagues or students. The panel articulated his contributions to the power of teaching, mentorship, scholarship, and collegiality.
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