Scott
Stedman is off on a Watson Fellowship next year to follow in the footsteps of German
literary critic Walter Benjamin. He plans to write a screenplay about the man he says is
“emblematic of the generation of people who adored literature the way that I
do.”
Stedman, an English major from Wellesley, Mass., is one of 60 graduating seniors from
49 colleges and universities who will receive $22,000 from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation
for a one-year wanderjahr outside of the U.S. Stedman is the 43rd Union student to earn a Watson since the program began
in 1969.
His topic, “Linking Past and Present Through a Screenplay Based on the Life of
Walter Benjamin,” will take him on a journey through Europe, where Benjamin studied
and wrote. From September through May, he will follow the writer's travels from
Berlin to Switzerland (Bern, Zurich and St. Moritz), Austria, Naples, Moscow, Paris and
Marseilles. Then, from May through September, he will return to Berlin to write a
screenplay based on Benjamin's life.
Stedman said he was captivated by Benjamin's love of books. One of Benjamin's
essays, “On Book Collecting,” struck a chord with the Wellesley, Mass., native.
“You don't have to read them all, ” Stedman said. “You just have to
love how they look and feel.”
Benjamin may not be as well known as some of his contemporaries, like Kafka. But his
writings, many of which were published posthumously, have earned him a reputation as one
of the most influential literary critics in the first half of this century.
Between his travels, Benjamin lived almost exclusively in Berlin until 1933, when he
fled the fascists for Paris. In 1940, at the urging of his friends and sister, he fled
occupied Paris for Spain. Only a few hours before his arrival at the border, Spanish
authorities had closed the crossing and threatened to turn the group over to the Nazis. In
despair, Benjamin took his life with an overdose of morphine. The next morning, in a cruel
irony, the rest of the group was allowed to cross to freedom.
Lost with Benjamin's life was a final manuscript that some speculate may have been
his most important work. “The manuscript must be saved at all cost,” he told a
traveling companion. “It is more important than my own person.” The manuscript
disappeared after the encounter with the border patrol; whether it was confiscated is
unknown. “We will never know if Benjamin took his life terrified of the Nazis or
devastated by the loss of his manuscript,” wrote Stedman in his Watson proposal.
“I always thought Benjamin would make a great screenplay,” said Stedman.
“This life has so many rich elements that anyone with any artistic sensibility could
take these and mold them into a magnificent story.”
There were 185 national finalists for Watson Fellowships, including four from Union.
Besides Stedman, Union finalists were, Brian Goldberg, “Loving Nature to Death:
Ecotourism in New Zealand, Kenya and Peru;” Kristopher Lovelett, “A Study on
International Power Industries;” and Bernice Polanco, “Wedding Rituals in the
Dominican Republic, Spain and Peru.”
Twelve Union students submitted proposals for the Watson. The campus Watson committee
members were Teresa Meade, acting chair; Seyfollah Maleki, Brad Jordon, Andrew Wolfe, and
Karen Brison.