VCU news

By Tom Gresham

Lewis Hyde, author of the masterpiece, “The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World,” which was reissued in 2007 in a 25th anniversary edition, will speak at Virginia Commonwealth University on Feb. 10.

Hyde, a poet, essayist, translator and cultural critic, is this year’s featured guest speaker in the Windmueller Lecture Series at VCU School of the Arts. Hyde’s lecture, “Cultural Commons,” will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Grace Street Theater, 930-934 W. Grace St. Admission is free and open to the public.

Hyde’s “The Gift” examines the position of creative artists in a commercial society. The book has received raves from such high-profile admirers as Margaret Atwood, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, Zadie Smith and the late David Foster Wallace.  Atwood described the book as “a masterpiece” and Wallace said “no one who is invested in any kind of art can read ‘The Gift’ and remain unchanged.” Wallace also called Hyde “a national treasure, one of our true superstars of non-fiction.”

Hyde’s other books include the non-fiction work, “Trickster Makes This World,” which examines the human imagination through ancient myth and modern practice and which The New Yorker called “brilliant,” and “This Error is the Sign of Love,” a collection of poetry.

Hyde, who received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991, formerly served as the director of the creative writing faculty at Harvard University. He has served as a professor at Kenyon College since 1989. 

The Windmueller Series was established through a gift from the estate of Otti Y. Windmueller. Windmueller received her bachelor of fine arts degree from VCU and taught fashion design for 29 years in the VCU School of the Arts. The Windmueller Series each year hosts prominent national experts who share their expertise in the arts with VCU students and the Richmond community.