It was a dramatic move--from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Knox County, Ohio--and Jesse Matz was apprehensive. He has been happily surprised.

"There is a lot to prefer about a location like this," Matz says, explaining that, for a professor of literature, Kenyon allows for a good deal more freedom than Harvard University, where he taught from 1996 to 2001. While Matz certainly engages in specialized scholarship, he values the opportunity to "do more adventurous, innovative kinds of writing" as well. For example, his book on the twentieth-century novel is intended for a general, rather than strictly academic, audience.

Matz's scholarly interests range widely. He offers an intriguing course on narrative theory, as well as a course on Anglophone African fiction. Much of his work, though, has been devoted to Modernism, a period (roughly between 1890 and 1939) when writers, reacting to social and cultural upheavals as well as to major developments in technology and psychology, produced experimental, often very challenging literature.

In the classroom, Matz has been impressed by Kenyon students' extraordinary "capacity for productive discussion." He elaborates: "I'm astounded by the speed with which we get right to the point; students often are able to take the idea that I had hoped to conclude on, get to it right away, and move on to more interesting topics.

Prior to Harvard, Matz's path to Kenyon included Yale University, where he received both his B.A. in 1989 and his Ph.D. in 1996.