Screens of Life Through the Eyes of a Poet

About the Book

This two-volume collection presents the poems Dr. Nathan wrote from the 1970s through 2012. The first set of poems, titled East / West, was inspired by viewing the painted oriental screens exhibited at the Freer Gallery in Washington DC. Moved by these images, he used the medium of poetry to capture the feelings the screens evoked. Dr. Nathan thought in big ideas. His poetic screens in these volumes explore such recurring universal themes as spirituality, hope, illness and aging, the fading of memories, friendship, and family.

About the Author

Dr. Norman Nathan, Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), published more than 550 poems, 39 short stories, and 62 scholarly articles during his career. These publications appeared in literary magazines, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other major outlets. His poems and works of fiction covered a wide range of topics, including, to name a few, the seeming contradictions between the principles of physics and human experience, aging, politics and economics, overpopulation, and biblical and English literary themes. In addition, Dr. Nathan published 6 books: a volume of poetry, several college-level English textbooks, and a literary analysis of the writings of William Blake. The FAU library maintains an archive (1930s–2012) of many of his papers in its “Norman Nathan Faculty Papers Collection.” In addition to long careers at Utica College of Syracuse University and FAU, Dr. Nathan enjoyed visiting professorships at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, College of the Virgin Islands, and Nevada Southern University (now University of Nevada, Las Vegas). He also taught at Florida State University’s London program. In Utica and South Florida, he developed local television series in which he discussed the writings of Shakespeare.