Clemson English professor awarded 2012 Hennig Cohen Prize

Published: January 24, 2013

Dominic Mastroianni image by: Clemson University

By Kelly Borglum

CLEMSON — Dominic Mastroianni, a Clemson assistant professor of English, has been awarded the 2012 Hennig Cohen Prize by The Melville Society for his essay “Revolutionary Time and the Future of Democracy in Melville’s Pierre.”

The award, named for the Melville scholar Hennig Cohen, honors excellence in scholarship and writing on the subject of 19^th century writer Herman Melville. The winner of the award must be nominated and then selected by the Cohen Prize committee. The award was presented by The Melville Society at the annual Modern Language Association conference in Boston on January 3, 2013.

Mastroianni’s essay focused new light on the political undertones of Melville’s novel Pierre, and the question of whether permanent democracy can result from revolution. It was published in ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance in 2011.

“The members of the Cohen Prize committee believe this is an essay that will challenge readers not only to rethink the political dimensions of Melville’s novel but to move politics to the center of the author’s concerns in this narrative,” said the committee in their announcement of the award.

The Melville Society is dedicated to the study of Herman Melville and his works, which include novels, short stories and poetry. The society is responsible for publishing the award-winning journal Leviathan, which is issued three times per year. They meet twice annually, at the Modern Language Association and American Literature Association conferences.

Mastroianni, whose focus of study is 19^th century literature and philosophy, received his Ph.D. in English from Emory University, and Bachelor of Arts in psychology and Master of Arts in English from Georgetown University. He has been an assistant professor of English at Clemson since 2008.

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