The Ordering Mirror: Readers and Contexts : the Ben Belitt Lectures at Bennington College

In 1977, Bennington College alumna Edith Barbour Andrews established the Ben Belitt Lectureships in gratitude to her teacher Ben Belitt and dedicated the publication of the lectures (in the form of chapbooks) to the memory of William Troy, another of her beloved teachers. The collection, published here in one volume, comprises lectures by some of the most inspiring writers and keenest critics of our time. In his introduction to The Ordering Mirror, Phillip Lopate contrasts the anticipation and the audience/lecturer dynamic inherent in attending the yearly lecture, with the experience of reading them, and the opportunity for reflection and comparison. Lopate summarizes that "It is enough to appreciate that we are watching masters of the game of essay-writing, who, even as they comment on the masterpieces of other writers, practice their own wizardry."