Published August 28, 2023 by Haverford College:
Joseph Russo, who taught classics at Haverford for more than 30 years, died August 16 at his home in upstate New York of complications from a motor neuron disease. He was 86.
The eldest child of two Italian immigrants and the first in his family to go to college – at the age of 16 – he graduated summa cum laude in his undergraduate program at Brooklyn College in 1958. He then received his master's and doctorate from Yale University, where he taught from 1962-70. Russo arrived at Haverford as an associate professor of classics, becoming full professor in 1972 and the Audrey and John Dusseau Memorial Professor in the Humanities and Classics In 1999. He also served as visiting professor at the University of Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Urbino, and Bryn Mawr College and retired in 2006.
“Joe was not only a remarkable scholar and teacher, but a wonderful colleague and friend, unfailingly kind and always happy to talk,” says Professor Emerita of Classics and Comparative Literature Deborah Roberts, who joined Russo at Haverford in 1977. “When I arrived at the college I could hardly believe my good luck in having a colleague so welcoming and supportive and with such an appealing variety of interests: new directions in the field of classics, languages from ancient Greek to Yiddish, the light verse form of the double dactyl (in which he was expert). He was also an excellent cook (I remember his braised leeks and crusty bread) who on occasion brought madeleines to his intermediate Greek class and explained the Proust allusion – to their double delight.”
Elaine Hansen, a former Haverford professor English and provost of the College, remembers Russo as a supportive colleague who never lost sight of faculty well-being while administering the needs of the College. "He served as my recommender for my first pre-tenure reappointment," she says, "and certainly made the whole process seem shockingly easy and comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that even before the final approval, I decided to tell him what no one else knew at that early point: that Stan and I were expecting a baby the following fall. He seemed briefly taken aback and unsure what to say, but after a few seconds offered words I have never forgotten: 'Well, that's a life-affirming decision!'"
Russo's scholarly work was primarily concerned with the Homeric epics and with oral traditions in general. He first gained recognition for several important articles on the Homeric formula and the traditional oral, formulaic style of Homeric epic, and the oral aesthetic remained a life-long interest. But he also wrote on Homeric psychology and the ways in which this can illuminate our understanding of epic narrative; his work in this area anticipates the recent cognitive turn in literary studies. His breadth as a Homerist is reflected in his commentary on books 17-20 of the Odyssey, first published by Mondadori in Italian and then by Oxford University Press in English, and on his commentary on books 21-22 in the seventh Mondadori edition. Among the American scholars of Greek literature in his generation, Russo was one of the best known and most highly respected in Europe, where he published in scholarly journals and collected volumes in French, Italian, and German as well as English.
He regularly taught Greek at every level as well as a popular course on mythology, which was enriched by his knowledge of comparative myth and folktale and his interest in psychological and psychoanalytic approaches.
To read the full tribute, please visit: Joseph Russo 1937-2023
