The current issue of The Chronicle Review has a short piece by Carlin Romano on the marriage and partnership of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene Genovese. The occasion is the publication of Gene’s memoir, Miss Betsey, a reminiscence of their long and happy romance.
It’s a delightful essay, and it catches well the extraordinary affection of two brillant minds and forceful temperaments. Like the many obituaries that followed upon Fox-Genovese’s death a year and a half ago, it mentions, too, her controversial position in academe, particularly in the world of women’s studies. As is well known, her anti-abortion position put her at odds with her field, and even though she founded the first doctoral program in women’s studies in the United States, she earned little credit for it once she went pro-life.
More than that, Fox-Genovese was the object of widespread animosity at her own university, and before I even knew her I heard and overheard dozens of smears, whispers, and denunciations at faculty gatherings and in lounges and at the next cafeteria table.
Here is the remarkable thing about it. When I became close friends with the Genoveses, Gene wouldn’t hesitate to pronounce judgment on his wife’s adversaries, doing so in precisely the “shoot from the hip” style Romano notes. But not once in private or public conversation did she ever utter any statement of a personal nature against them. Fox-Genovese was sharp and incisive about intellectual matters, and she played no favorites, arguing in a firm and patient manner with everyone including her husband whenever she found important disagreements. (Rarely did she quibble over the small stuff.)
But gossip and slight weren’t her thing. She stood in the middle of heated and rancorous debates that extended from national legal policy to local politics at Emory, but never did I hear her descend into detraction. Time and again the bait was offered, and she held back. No cheap shots, no easy dismissals, no reliance on like-minded auditors for reassurance. Her example continues for the many students and colleagues she affected over the years, and academe is a lesser place without her.
