Renowned academic writer and lecturer Arnold Weinstein was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1940. He received his B.A. from Princeton University in 1962; his M.A. from Harvard University, 1964, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature in 1968. Professor Weinstein has been at Brown University since 1968 where he has held the position of Edna and Richard Salomon Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature since 1995. He was a Fulbright professor of American literature at Stockholm University in 1983; the Professeur Invité in American Literature at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, in 1996; and received a National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship in 1998.

His 1993 scholarly study, Nobody's Home: Speech, Self and Place in American Fiction from Hawthorne to DeLillo (1993) contains two extended essays on Faulkner, one on As I Lay Dying and one on Light in August. His most recent book is A Scream Goes Through the House: What Literature Teaches Us About Life (2003). In 2006, his book Recovering Your Story: Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner, Morrison will be published.

Additionally, he is the director of the Texts and Teachers program. This collaborative effort in educational reform brings together high school teachers and university professors in the creation and teaching of world literature courses. The program was instituted at various sites throughout the country, to form partnerships of teachers at the secondary and the college level.

He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife, Ann Cathrine Berntson. They have two children and two grandchildren.

Additional Works by Arnold Weinstein:
Professor Weinstein's books include The Fiction of Relationship (1988), Fictions of the Self: 1550-1800 (1981) and Vision and Response in Modern Fiction (1974). He is currently at work on Breaking Through: Power and Expression in Scandinavian Art and Literature a book-length study expected for completion in September 2006.

Through The Teaching Company, a series of recorded lectures by some of America's top professors, Professor Weinstein conducted an introductory course on 20th Century American Fiction, including the authors: Sherwood Anderson; Ernest Hemingway; William Faulkner; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Zora Neale Hurston; Flannery O'Connor; William Burroughs; Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.; Robert Coover; Toni Morrison; and Don DeLillo. 

His other lectures in The Teaching Company series are The Soul and the City: Art, Literature and Urban Life, Understanding Literature and Life: Drama, Poetry and Narrative, Death and Disease: Using Literature to Understand the Human Side of Medicine and Classics of American Literature, which also includes three lectures on both Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury.

The Teaching Company brings engaging professors into your home or car through courses on DVD, audio CD and other formats. Since 1990, great professors from the Ivy League, Stanford, Georgetown and other leading colleges and universities have crafted 175 courses for lifelong learners like you. It's the adventure of learning without the homework or exams. The web address for The Teaching Company is www.teach12.com. Or call them at 800-TEACH12. Through The Teaching Company, a series of recorded lectures by some of America's top professors, Professor Weinstein conducted an introductory course on 20th Century American Fiction, including the authors: Sherwood Anderson; Ernest Hemingway; William Faulkner; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Zora Neale Hurston; Flannery O'Connor; William Burroughs; Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.; Robert Coover; Toni Morrison; and Don DeLillo.

If you enjoy reading and are looking to explore other great works, Professor Weinstein's Classics of American Literature is on sale now at 70% off the standard price.  This special offer expires on September 29, 2005.

His other lectures in The Teaching Company series are The Soul and the City: Art, Literature and Urban Life, Understanding Literature and Life: Drama, Poetry and Narrative, Death and Disease: Using Literature to Understand the Human Side of Medicine and Classics of American Literature, which also includes three lectures on both Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury. The Teaching Company brings engaging professors into your home or car through courses on DVD, audio CD and other formats. Since 1990, great professors from the Ivy League, Stanford, Georgetown and other leading colleges and universities have crafted 175 courses for lifelong learners like you. It's the adventure of learning without the homework or exams. The web address for The Teaching Company is www.teach12.com. Or call them at 800-TEACH12.

• Read Q&A about Light in August.
• Professor Weinstein's Classics of American Literature is on sale now at 70% off the standard price