David Crespy

David Crespy

Written tribute from a former student.

David Crespy, PhD, 1998

February 17, 2012

Document

Dan Gerould opened my mind to the possibilities of a world of theater and performance in East Europe and was one of the toughest and most rigorous editors I have ever worked with as a writer. His knowledge of his subject matter was as vast as it was nuanced, and his delight and passion for the work of writers such as Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz changed a generation of scholars. He had a wonderful macabre sense of humor—I remember him sharing photos of what I think was an autopsy of Vladimir Mayakovsky (for some strange Bolshevik experiment with Mayakovsky's brain), and the thrill of the bizarre when we both noticed that the top of Mayakovsky's head was left somewhat ajar in one of the photos. This was a typical Dan moment—who studied with equal fascination the nature of the performance of guillotine executions as he did American melodrama. He was the model of endless intellectual curiosity, and the world of scholarship is deeply lessened without his participation in it.

Dr. David Crespy