The MLA celebrates the life of the author, teacher, and arts administrator Joel Conarroe, who died on 28 April 2024 in the Bronx, New York. A critical figure in the American literary sphere, Conarroe led the MLA, the PEN American Center, and the Guggenheim Foundation at various points throughout his life and championed the work of thousands of scholars.
Conarroe studied English at Davidson College, graduating in 1956. He received a master’s in English from Cornell University in 1957 and a PhD from New York University in 1966. After graduating from NYU, Conarroe joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. He spent almost two decades at Penn, during which he served as chair of the English department and, later, as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. Conarroe’s time as a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania overlapped with that of the novelist Philip Roth. The two enjoyed a close, decades-long friendship, with Conarroe often providing Roth with feedback on his manuscripts.
Conarroe became executive director of the MLA in 1978, holding that position until 1983. During his tenure as executive director, Conarroe was also the editor of PMLA, making him the last MLA executive director to hold both positions simultaneously. After leaving the MLA, Conarroe went on to lead the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation from 1985 until 2003. He was a trustee of the foundation until his retirement in 2016, upon which he was appointed a Trustee Emeritus. He spent time as president of the PEN American Center, vice president of the National Book Critics Circle, and chair of the National Book Award fiction jury and served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize fiction jury. In addition to cementing himself as an influential tastemaker in the American literary landscape, Conarroe was a respected writer in his own right, publishing books on the works of William Carlos Williams and John Berryman, as well as editing numerous poetry anthologies, including Six American Poets.