Injury and Beauty

Elaine Scarry is teaching two courses at Harvard this spring.

Return to main article:

This spring, Elaine Scarry is teaching two courses: a purely literary class on the three Brontë sisters, and “The Problem of Consent,” drawing examples from literature, medicine, political philosophy, and the law, and enrolling students from the Law School as well as the College. Though her home base is Harvard’s English department, Scarry has never limited her scholarship to literature.

From the beginning, she says, her work has focused on two areas: “the problem of injury, and why it is so hard to get people to care about it;” and “the great pleasure of beauty and creation.” The first of Scarry’s 10 books, The Body In Pain (1985), offered a searching exploration of physical pain in medical, military, legal, scientific, and literary contexts. Dreaming by the Book (1999) inquired into how poets get readers to form vivid mental images. On Beauty and Being Just (1999) argued that encounters with beauty “call us either to educate ourselves, or to try to repair the injuries of the world.” Since 1987, she has been researching the issues involving consent to war expounded in Thermonuclear Monarchy; in recent years she has lectured on its themes at law schools and humanities forums.

You might also like

This Astronomer is Sounding a Warning on 'Space Junk'

As debris accumulates in low Earth orbit, the danger of destructive collisions continues to rise.

Isaac Kohlberg to Step Down as Head of Harvard Technology Development

Partnerships and licensing office could become more critical as funding cuts loom

Can Citrus Stave Off Depression?

A research study digs into the gut microbiome.

Most popular

“Do You Find That Reasonable?” Harvard Undergraduates Discuss a Changing University

A student panel grapples—civilly—with shifting policies and differing opinions.

The Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

Harvard Adopts Reforms as Higher Ed Turmoil Continues

University creates new “interfaith engagement” role; Columbia, Brown settle with the government.

Explore More From Current Issue

Nicolo Maestas in a grey suit and wearing glasses sits with her arms on a table

The Harvard health economist not afraid to get in the weeds

Illustration of Donald Trump and Alan Garber wearing boxing gloves, facing off beneath the quote: “The stakes are so high that we have no choice.”

Introducing a guide to the issues, players, and stakes.

David Souter

Remembering David Souter ’61, LL.B. ’66