When entering the Texana Room of the DeGolyer Library, one could not help but notice a swarm of white-haired women lined-up by the dessert table, fighting over the last lemon bar. There was not a single student in sight until the reception for Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, Robert Caserio, slowly came to an end.

It wasn’t until the lecture began in the Marcus Stanley Reading Room when a few students began to fill seats in the back row. Director of Undergraduate Studies for English, Richard Bozorth, introduced Caserio by singing his praises, mentioning how he was the editor of numerous works and has written several on his own.

Caserio anxiously approached the podium, and replied with how “disconcerting it is to praise one, and one does not get used to that.”

With that said, Caserio jumped into his lecture topic of “In the Cage: Passion’s Impairments of Agency in Novelistic Narrative.” Caserio hypothesized points of passion, action, captivity and suffering in various authors’ works. He commented specifically on Henry Green’s work, dealing with act, sufferance and the consequence of the two, resulting in “that which is learned.”

As Caserio stroked his mustache, pushed up his glasses and began explaining how “emotions are not instrumental in character,” some of those white-haired women began to nod off. It seemed that Caserio’s lecture was not registering with most, except for the few professors who occasionally gave a nod in agreement.

“I will spare you of talking about ‘War and Peace,'” Caserio said, jokingly.

He finished off his lecture with the point that, “When action is at a distance, passion suffices.”

Leaving most of the students scratching their heads, Caserio opened the floor to questions.

Chris Campbell, an English major, commented on how he “had no idea what to expect” going into the lecture. Other students who were asked for their opinions had no comment, except for one, who interjected, “[Caserio] seemed very intelligent.”

Soon to come in The Gilbert Lecture Series will be Professor of French and of Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester, Thomas Dipiero, on Thursday, April 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the Stanley Marcus Reading Room of the DeGolyer Library. He will be covering “How to Do Things with Birds.”