Alumnus to talk about literature and world issues

By Katie Williams
Collegian Editor
February 20, 2008

This week a distinguished alumus will be returning to campus to do a La Salle lecture tour. John Rodden, ‘78, will be speaking Feb. 20 about George Orwell and the Impact of Animal Farm and 1984 in the Dunleavy room. On Feb. 22 he will be speaking on the Future of Germany, and on Feb. 26 about Latina writer Isabel Allende, both in Olney 100. All his lectures will take place during the free period.

Katie Williams - John Rodden '78, reflects on his time at La Salle from the Christian
Brothers residence, where he is spending this week in preparation for his lecture tour.

Rodden attended Holy Ghost Prep and graduated in 1974. From there he attended what was then La Salle College.

“[La Salle] was a very different place back then,” he said. “There was no bus, no other campus but what’s here in the center.”

While at La Salle, Rodden was both editor-in-chief of the La Salle Collegian and President of the Gravel Society, an active debating team. The team was so successful that it traveled to Great Britian to participate in an International Debating Tournament.

From there, Rodden recived a Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in both English and German.

“I taught at the University of Virginia for many years, before moving down to the University of Texas,” Rodden said.

“I currently teach there in the college of communication, where I teach rhetoric and intellectual history, which includes European Studies.”

Aside from being a distinguished professor, Rodden has also published 17 books on various topics.

“The lectures are going to be related to the books I have written,” said Rodden. “La Salle students are reading selected chapters from my books, so that the presentations can be more like discussions, instead of me lecturing for an hour.”

“I’m very excited to hear what La Salle students think about these topics,” Rodden said.

The lecture Feb. 20 will explore the impact of Orwell’s works in the 20th and 21st century.

“I’m going to discuss not only how Orwell became the most important and best-selling political writer of the 20th century, but what direction his influence and reputation are likely to develop in our century,” Rodden said. “As his fame was largely shaped by conditions of the Cold War, and that’s now over, are his warnings still relevant?”

The Future of Germany discussion will focus on the legacy of the Nuremberg Trials, as this year will be their 60th anniversary.

“This anniversary invites reflection into whether the world has made much progress in defending human rights,” Rodden said. “So I’ll be focusing on violations of human rights not only under Communist regimes – such as the GDR [German Democratic Republic], but also recent troubles such as those in Bosnia, Rwanda and the War on Terror.”

Rodden is currently working on a book detailing the stories of the victims of the Stasi in East Berlin.

“The recent movie The Lives of Others has focused a lot of attention on the situation. Some of the people I interviewed were part of a composite group whose lives influenced the film,” Rodden said.

“So it was exciting, and also moving and quite upsetting, to visit the Stasi torture chambers with the former prisoners and glimpse the rooms through their eyes.”

The final lecture will be based on the life and books of Isabel Allende.

“Conversations with Isabel Allende is the title of a book I wrote a few years ago,” he said.

The book, which has been translated into German, Italian and many other languages, is based on conversations between Rodden and Allende.

Allende is the highest selling, living, woman author in the world, with more than 15 thousand copies of her books in print in more than two dozen languages.

Rodden and Allende met while her daughter attended the University of Virginia.

“She had been living in exile in Venezuela, from Chile, and would come to visit her daughter and do guest lectures at the school from time to time.”

Allende currently lives in California.

Rodden is pleased to return to La Salle.

“I am gratified to see so many old friends and faculty who taught me more than three decades ago,” he said.

“As I was sitting in the Union watching the students go to and from class, I would hallucinate that I would see old classmates of mine. It’s not so far-fetched, and a wonderful testament to La Salle. Families want to send their children and grandchildren here.”

He added, “I feel a deep sense of gratitude for the past and a keen sense of promise for the future of La Salle.”

williamsk1@lasalle.edu