William Van Watson, formerly Visiting Associate Professor of Italian at the University of Arizona, died suddenly in Tucson AZ on May 8, 2014 at the age of 55. Van was a well-known figure at the annual meeting of the AAIS, which he attended regularly since 1989, blazing a trail in the early 1990s with his innovative readings of Italian auteur cinema. A true pioneer, he was among the first to apply poststructuralist analyses to the study of Italian film. Combining semiotics, psychoanalysis, and theories of sexuality, his conference papers were formulated with equal measures of intellectual rigor, originality, and wit.
Van received his PhD in theatre from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1987, with a minor in Italian and a minor in film studies. Though he taught theatre from time to time throughout his career, he devoted himself mainly to italianistica and cinema. His scholarly interests were wide-ranging and eclectic. In addition to his book Pier Paolo Pasolini and the Theatre of the Word (UMI 1989), he published dozens of articles and book chapters on topics ranging from Pasolini’s poetry to the classics of silent cinema, from Italian influences on Hollywood directors to analyses of stars, performances, and transmedia adaptations. His most consistent focus was, however, on the representation of gender and queer sexualities in Italian cinema since the postwar period.
Van’s interdisciplinary formation, broad intellectual interests and comparative approaches were not easily accommodated within existing institutional structures, and may have been in part responsible for his tragic inability to secure a tenure track appointment. Working in full-time adjunct and visiting positions for over twenty years, he taught a wide spectrum of undergraduate courses, from general education requirements to advanced classes in Italian literature and film. Despite his grueling teaching commitments, Van remained an energized, dedicated instructor as well as a productive scholar who never lost his passion for research. Though he continued to publish articles and book chapters regularly, he struggled to find the time to finish his second book. Finally, in the last year of his life, when he found himself unexpectedly without employment, he was able to devote himself full-time to writing his long-planned book on Pasolini’s cinema. Three days before his untimely death he wrote to friends to announce that he had finally completed the manuscript.
Many of us were the beneficiaries of Van’s considerable intellectual generosity, insight, and exuberant sense of humor. He was one of a kind, and will be hugely missed.
Áine O’Healy
Loyola Marymount University
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I was asked to write a few words to remember my friend and colleague William Van Watson. I am honored and at the same time devastated to be invited to do so on behalf of his many academic friends and his many students who were utterly shocked by this unexpected tragedy.
I have known Van for many years, first as a fellow presenter at several conferences, then as one of my colleagues at the University of Arizona. Rarely have I witnessed intelligence, style, and talent complement one another as clearly and as persuasively as they did in Van. As one of his friends said, Van also had a most delightful way of being honest with people - a quality that made some people feel uncomfortable, yet made him one of the most loved professors in our department.
Van’s lectures were extraordinary because he could move flawlessly from one area to another, deftly integrating his immense knowledge of European and American literatures, cinema, art, theatre, music, politics, history, and, last but not least, cuisine. He tied all of his interests together so much so that our students could not get lost in his lectures, and beyond this, were inspired to broaden their interests.
He held a Visiting Associate Professor position at the University of Arizona, where he worked for 13 years. It can be argued that Van’s courses were the core of our Italian Studies track. In fact, the variety of topics taught by Van was truly impressive: they ranged from “Ancient Roman Society and Culture,” to “Italian Theater,” from “Women in Italian Society and Culture,” to “Italian-America Cinema,” to “Literature and Film of Pasolini” to the very successful “Intro to Italian Culture,” which covers Italian culture from the Middle Ages to the present and for which he took over 100 students to operas, theatre productions, musical concerts, and the cinema. As of now, with more than 90 majors, we are the largest Italian Department in the USA and Professor Van Watson’s contributions were crucial to this achievement.
Despite the demands on his time, Van was always prepared for and participated fully in all the activities promoted by the Department and by the Italian Club, and maintained consistently high spirits and good energy in his interactions with his colleagues and his students. He organized interactive events with our students in addition to the traditional Italian dinners at his home with colleagues and students.
Van was an extremely hard worker. He was dedicated to his field, to his students and their preparation, and to our profession as a whole. He had the intellectual energy and stamina to recently finish his second book on Pier Paolo Pasolini. I consider him to have been a leader in our field and consider myself fortunate to have been able to work with him and learn from him.
I will miss his honesty, his intelligence, his fun, his sarcasm. I will sorely miss not being able to have a glass of wine together (white for him and red for me), I will miss not seeing him stop by – without notice, of course – at my home, just to say hi and play a little bit with my cats.
Goodbye Van
Beppe Cavatorta
University of Arizona
