The Literary Life

Emma Eisenberg, a junior English major and politics minor, has received the Beinecke Scholarship, an award that provides substantial funding toward a graduate education in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.

Eisenberg, who is from Rockville, Maryland, plans to pursue a PhD in English. Her current research interests lie in the intersection of late Victorian avant-garde and popular literatures, the emergence of the detective story, and conceptions of the modern or civilized individual. For her honors project next year, she will investigate heroism as a literary and moral category in New Grub Street, a Realist novel about struggling writers published in 1891.

During her first and second years, she was a copy editor and layout editor for the Review, Oberlin’s student newspaper. She has worked as an intern for the Oberlin alumni office since her sophomore year, and she became a majors representative for the English department this year.

Eisenberg says that considering an academic career in today’s job market can be a harrowing prospect, but applying for the Beinecke Scholarship “has increased my resolve to pursue literary studies and lead a literary life. Now, having won the Beinecke, this desire can be underwritten by a greater feeling of security. For that I am immensely grateful.”

She says Oberlin has encouraged her to be a thoughtful person as well as a smart one. “Professors and students here have a playful and multifaceted interest in the world, which enriches whatever they choose to do.”

The Beinecke Scholarship was established in 1971. Each scholar receives $4,000 prior to entering graduate school and an additional $30,000 while attending graduate school. There are no geographic restrictions on the use of the scholarship, and recipients are allowed to supplement the award with other scholarships, assistantships, and research grants.