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Faculty Profile – Paul Farkas
By Geof Wollerman
gwollerm@mscd.edu

Photo by Cora Kemp • ckemp4@mscd.edu Metro English professor Paul Farkas.

Putting preconceived notions of the English professor aside, on the weekends Paul Farkas rides his mountain bike, skis mountain passes and embraces the great outdoors.

“I’m a borderline fanatic biker – road and mountain,” Farkas said. “We’re talking every weekend, almost without fail. For me it’s a way to kind of recover, to look at the physical activity as a sort of stimulus to get back to the intellectual work.”

Born in Cleveland, Farkas was the product of a blue-collar upbringing and was the first in his family to graduate from college. Academically, he embraced Latin and philosophy in his early years, eventually moving on to study James Joyce and symbolic literature. He began teaching at Metro more than 30 years ago.

“It’s really a delight to teach at Metro, because students are so well-motivated and come from so many different backgrounds that it’s, to me, a teacher’s sort of dream job,” he said. “It’s absolutely been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.”

Among the classes he teaches at Metro is a course dedicated to the literature and symbolism of James Joyce.

“Joyce is the turning point that took me from philosophy into literature, and then paradoxically back into philosophy,” he said. “Ulysses is by far my favorite Joyce book, but in terms of my own development it was Portrait of the Artist (as a Young Man). It was the story of the young precocious lad growing up and his fascination with words and language, which I could see within myself. I never really was that self-conscious about language until I read Joyce.”

While still drawn to ancient literature, history and languages, Farkas’ current interests lie with the ideas behind language. But he still finds time for some contemporary reading. A fan of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels The Remains of the Day and The Unconsoled, he is currently reading Dreaming Souls by Owen Flanagan, a novel that explores the purpose of dreams.

“It’s just fascinating stuff,” Farkas said. “Because at this point in my life … I’m really going more toward literary criticism, and that blend between philosophy and literature enables me to make sense out of the novel and the poem as an imitation of consciousness.”

Farkas sees movies as simply another form of literature, and several films have made an impression on him.

“Casablanca is one of my favorites,” he said. “I thought American Beauty was superb – I think one of the all-time best films out there.”

Sometimes he can even get into movies that are campy and dumb, he said, noting that Napoleon Dynamite was brilliant.

“I do try to dabble in pop culture stuff as well, to kind of balance the heavy handed classical things … you know Buffy? I’m a big Buffy fan.” Farkas also has affection for the mythical aspects of Superman and Batman, and described the Lois and Clark television series as “absolutely hilarious.”

Perhaps dispelling another misconception about English professors, Farkas also enjoys cooking.

“More than anything, I love to do breads,” he said. “Breads and Hungarian food.”

His family on his father’s side is from Hungary and still maintains ties to the Old World.

“The old family property is still in Hungary … about 100 miles west of Budapest.”

After having been at Metro since 1972, retirement is right around the corner, but Farkas has yet to solidify any plans.

“We’ll have to wait and see. With 35 years, you know, you get up there. But then you start thinking, ‘Well, what else would I do?’”