Reynolds Price received his first job offer from Duke in his final year as a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford. The contract-to teach freshman English-read, "You must understand: the appointment is for three years and will not be extended."
That was 1958. Last night, on the eve of the author's 75th birthday, the University kicked off "A Jubilee for Reynolds Price" to celebrate the 1955 Trinity College graduate and James B. Duke Professor of English's 50 years of teaching at Duke.
Ian Baucom, chair of the English department, began the night with a few lines of Yeats: "How but in custom and ceremony / Are innocence and beauty born?"
Before introducing "Clear Pictures" and "Passing It On"-both documentaries focused on Price's academic life-Baucom said the lines could describe the development of Price's teaching style over a half-century.
After the films, Duke alumni joined Price's friends and colleagues outside Reynolds Theater for a reception.
Herb Lodder, also Trinity '55 and a chaplain from Baltimore, was among those in attendance. Although he said was "not close friends" with Price in college, Lodder and his wife decided to register for the jubilee after receiving a mailing from Alumni Affairs.
"I said to Fran, 'Why don't we come down?'" Lodder added. "Why not honor a classmate who has done well?"
Later in the evening Price returned to Reynolds Theater for a discussion with Charlie Rose, Trinity '64, Law '68 and the host of Public Broadcasting Service's "The Charlie Rose Show."
The two first met when Rose was a college freshman, and bonded over their similar upbringings in rural eastern North Carolina.
"We are two men of the South," Rose said.
Between discussing Price's family history and writing career, the pair broke into anecdotes about their shared acquaintances and geography.
Formative teaching was a central theme of the evening. Price paid tribute to mentors ranging from his 11th grade English teacher, Phyllis Peacock, to William Blackburn, former professor of English, and the poets W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender, whom he befriended at Oxford.
"What a good time I've had," Price said at the end of the night. "You've never met someone who has enjoyed life as much as I have."
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