Jarrett Dury-Agri in Bicentennial Hall at a recent Middlebury reunion.
Liz Sheedy ‘22.5 speaks with former NER intern Jarrett Dury-Agri ’12 about German literature, the ceramic arts, and the environmental beauty of Vermont.
Liz Sheedy: Where has your profession taken you? Where are you now?
Jarrett Dury-Agri: I am currently in Waterbury, VT, where my career has taken a turn from academia toward nonprofit administration. In retrospect, it has actually been a journey of returns to Vermont. After graduating Middlebury and teaching on a Fulbright Fellowship in Germany, I found myself back in Norwich, VT during my MA in Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College. Even as I pursued a PhD in German at the University of California, Berkeley, I returned to Breadloaf for the Translators’ Conference and then to teach a course on women’s literature during Middlebury’s J-Term. The pandemic inspired me to latch onto this Vermont connection and re-engage my art education experience as executive assistant at The Current, Stowe’s center for contemporary art and education. Although that was a wonderful way to reconnect with ceramics and the children’s art classes that I conducted over many summers, I am incredibly excited to have returned to higher education as assistant to the president at Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA).
LS: How has your study of the German language shaped your creative process?
JDA: The German language can seem sharp and regimented, but my study of poetry and philosophy written in it has revealed a furtive elegance full of literary possibility. Rilke’s sonnets and Bachmann’s streams of consciousness come to mind. Because there is so much sense and structure, in spite of word order or the complex concatenations of smaller semantic units, nuance and neologism become possible at every scale. This combination of the logical and the lyrical made it the ideal language in which to explore the intersection of literature and philosophy in my academic career, and I continue to juxtapose sense and sensuality when I translate turn-of-the-century poetry or construct elegant but nonfunctional ceramic vessels.
LS: In addition to writing and translating, what other forms of art do you pursue?
JDA: I enjoy painting and drawing, but handbuilt ceramics are my specialty and what I have taught to children in a few different schools and settings. When my head is preoccupied with words, concepts, and meanings, it seems all the more important to actually touch natural materials and practice making things in the world. The relationship between form and function that interests me as a scholar is seldom more tangible than in the ceramic arts.
LS: What are some important takeaways from your stint as an NER intern?
JDA: As an intern, perhaps because it coincided with my work on Sweatervest literary magazine, I came to appreciate how much of a team effort publication is. So many people and pieces contribute to the finished product, which has distinct origins in the reading group that interns are privileged to join. As a reader, I learned how quality could be adjudicated collaboratively, in a team conversation that puts aside personal preference, and that even some of the most compelling work could be accepted on condition of revision. I was tasked with dissolving my generosity of interpretation, and asked instead to anatomize my predilections and explain how a piece worked from the inside outward on its own terms; this was wonderful practice for graduate level analysis.
LS: Who are your favorite contemporary German writers?
JDA: My scholarship focuses on the turn of the twentieth century, which may explain why I appreciate contemporary authors who write from the boundaries and edges, who carry forward the complex imagination and pragmatic confrontation of Franz Kafka and Paul Celan. Herta Müller and Yoko Tawada come to mind in this respect, as does Ann Cotten. Perhaps I have a soft spot for writers who work within a framework of translation, but I appreciate literature that challenges the history, limitation, and legibility of the German language.
LS: How do your educational experiences influence or enrich your current position as assistant to the President of VCFA?
JDA: I use my research and writing abilities every day at VCFA, whether to draft detailed analyses or craft compelling and diplomatic outreach. The process of writing essays and a dissertation prepared me to tackle complex projects where the topic or approach is unfamiliar to me, but nevertheless requires critical analysis and creative solutions. My extensive experience as both a student and an instructor helps me to understand the perspective of faculty at the foundation of our institution, as well as the learners we serve. It is exciting to keep these constituencies in mind with every decision that I assist the President and her administration in making. More than anything, I am excited to be part of the vanguard of graduate education, as we make MFA programs more inclusive, accessible, sustainable, and socially responsible. As someone who believes that education is the root of understanding, growth, and change, I am eager to be a part of envisioning what that future looks like in the arts.
LS: What is your current muse? What past muses have inspired you throughout your academic and creative careers?
JDA: Vermont’s beauty is my current muse. I cannot stop myself from hiking, biking, skiing, or otherwise actively exploring the beautiful, wild corners and caring communities of this state. I am glad to find myself here, because even as I travel the world and am inspired by the places (and many German speakers) I find elsewhere, I realize that it is the languid summer nights and the sound of snow sifting through needles, the muddy Green Mountains, and the ephemerally colored trees, that always have me eager to return home.
LS: Thank you for your wonderful insights, Jarrett; I hope you continue to enjoy the world’s beauty and your rewarding, creative career!