Linda Hess

Linda Hess
Occupations
  • Academic
  • translator
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (2010)
Academic background
Education
ThesisStudies in Kabir: Texts, Traditions, Styles and Skills (1980)
Michael N. Nagler
Academic work
Discipline
  • Hindu studies
  • literary studies
Sub-discipline
Kabir
Institutions

Linda Beth Hess (born September 1942)[1] is an American translator and academic. A 2010 Guggenheim Fellow, She has written several books on the mystic Kabir, including The Bijak of Kabir (1983) and Bodies of Song (2015). She has worked as part of the faculty of University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis, and Stanford University.

Biography

Linda Hess was raised in California.[2] Originally raised in Judaism, she became interested in Indian culture after reading the work of Emerson and Thoreau, as well as the Walt Whitman poem "Passage to India".[3] Hess recalled: "I was looking for a good spiritual path in 1958… this was much before the fads of the 60s – hippies, Beatles etc.".[3]

After working as an English lecturer at Elphinstone College from 1965 to 1966, Hess obtained a BA in English from Stanford University with great distinction and honors in humanities in 1968.[4] She attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she obtained an MA and PhD (both in comparative literature) in 1974 and 1980 (respectively), and worked as a lecturer at Sonoma State University in 1973.[4] Her doctoral dissertation Studies in Kabir: Texts, Traditions, Styles and Skills was advised by Michael N. Nagler.[1]

After working as a visiting assistant professor at Barnard College and Dartmouth College in the 1980s, Hess worked as assistant professor in South and Southeast Asian studies at UC Berkeley from 1986 to 1994.[4] She was a lecturer of religious studies at University of California, Davis from 1984 to 1985 and from 1995 to 1997.[4] She moved to Stanford University in 1996 and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2008.[4] She served as co-director of the Stanford Center for South Asia from 2006 to 2009.[4]

Hess specializes in South Asian religion, particularly the mystic Kabir.[5] Her interest in Kabir piqued after she centered her doctoral dissertation on his work, being drawn to both his "satirical literary narrative and his sharp criticism of both Hindus and Muslims for their sectarian delusions".[6] She has published several books related to Kabir,[5] including The Bijak of Kabir (1983), a translated volume of Kabir's poems which she did with Sukhdev Singh;[7] Singing Emptiness (2009), a translated volume of Kumar Gandharva's nirguni bhajans;[8] and Bodies of Song (2015), an ethnographic and analytical book on Kabir's oral tradition, which saw her visit Malwa for research.[9] In 2010, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her book Bodies of Song.[5] She also appeared in the Shabnam Virmani documentary Chalo Hamara Des: Come to My Country.[5]

Hess is a Sōtō Zen practitioner, having practiced at San Francisco Zen Center and Berkeley Zen Center.[2]

Works

  • (translated with Shukdev Singh) The Bijak of Kabir (1983)[a]
  • A Touch of Grace: Songs of Kabir (1994)[5]
  • Singing Emptiness: Kumar Gandharva Performs the Poetry of Kabir (2009)[8]
  • Bodies of Song: Kabir Oral Traditions and Performative Worlds in North India (2015)[b]

Notes

  1. ↑ Reviews of this book:[10][11][7][12][13]
  2. ↑ Reviews of this book:[9][14]

References

  1. 1 2 Hess, Linda Beth (1980). Studies in Kabir: Texts, Traditions, Styles and Skills (PhD thesis). University of California, Berkeley. OCLC 663475125.
  2. 1 2 "Conversation with Linda Hess". Awakin Call. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Dear friend… listen!". The Hindu. December 10, 2015. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Curriculum Vitae: Linda Hess" (PDF). Stanford Universiry. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Linda Hess". Guggenheim Fellowships. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  6. ↑ Shekhar, Divya (December 12, 2015). "It's joyful to learn the difference between Kabir in text, song and performance: Linda Hess". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  7. 1 2 Cort, John (1985). "Will the Real Kabir Please Stand Up?". Journal of South Asian Literature. 20 (1): 249–250. ISSN 0091-5637. JSTOR 40872765.
  8. 1 2 Foley, Kathy (2014). "Review of SINGING EMPTINESS: KUMAR GANDHARVA PERFORMS THE POETRY OF KABIR". Asian Theatre Journal. 31 (1): 338–339. ISSN 0742-5457. JSTOR 43187309.
  9. 1 2 Burchett, Patton (2016). "Review of Bodies of Song: Kabir Oral Traditions and Performative Worlds in North India". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 84 (3): 850–853. ISSN 0002-7189. JSTOR 26177723.
  10. ↑ Ali, A. S. (1985). "Review of The Bījak of Kabir". World Literature Today. 59 (3): 491–491. doi:10.2307/40141098. ISSN 0196-3570. JSTOR 40141098.
  11. ↑ Bryant, Kenneth E. (1986). "Review of The Bijak of Kabir". The Journal of Asian Studies. 45 (2): 426–427. doi:10.2307/2055886. ISSN 0021-9118. JSTOR 2055886.
  12. ↑ Lorenzen, David N. (1986). "Review of The Bijak of Kabir". Estudios de Asia y Africa. 21 (3 (69)): 547–548. ISSN 0185-0164. JSTOR 40313031.
  13. ↑ Shapiro, Michael C. (2003). "Review of The Bījak of Kabir, Linda Hess". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 123 (4): 927–927. doi:10.2307/3590013. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 3590013.
  14. ↑ Williams, Tyler W. (2016). "Review of Bodies of Song: Kabir Oral Traditions and Performative Worlds in North India". The Journal of Asian Studies. 75 (3): 862–864. ISSN 0021-9118. JSTOR 44166325.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.