Literature Hosts Memorial Service to Honor Fredric Jameson (1934-2024)

Fredric Jameson, a cultural theorist and literary critic who influenced generations of scholars and helped raise the international profile of Duke's Literature program, died on September 22. Two months later, the department hosted a memorial for friends and colleagues from around the world to share memories of the esteemed professor.

“Since his arrival at the university, Fred Jameson has been the centerpiece in the project that catapulted the humanities at Duke to national leadership," said Michael Hardt, professor and chair of Literature. 

The wide reach and generosity of his contributions to the intellectual life of the humanities and the university as a whole are reflected by the co-sponsorships from the departments of English, Romance Studies, African and African American Studies, Slavic and Eurasian Studies, German Studies, History, Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, Philosophy, Music, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Religious Studies, Classical Studies, International Comparative Studies, Art, Art History, and Visual Studies, the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Marxism and Society, and the Institute for Critical Theory, as well as the Offices of the Dean and the Provost.

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Literature Toril Moi said of Jameson, "the atmosphere of complete intellectual freedom he fostered enabled me to find my own intellectual voice. It’s difficult to fathom that Fred no longer shares our world. But his work will live on."

Watch videos from the memorial, including tributes from guests not in attendance, below.