04/28/2026
🌿 Celebration of Life: Professor James R. Giles (1937–2025) 🌿
NIU-English wishes to share the news that a celebration of Professor James Richard Giles life, who passed away on September 26, 2025, will be held on May 16th at 2 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of DeKalb, 158 North Fourth Street.
Please RSVP to Morgan Kathleen Giles-Hadley at [email protected] if you plan to attend and indicate whether you would like to share memories of Jim verbally.
Below, is a memorial piece written by Professor Emeritus Michael Day on Dr. Giles' legacy, which includes memories from colleagues, students, and friends.
✨ Remembering Dr. Jim Giles (1927-2025), by Dr. Michael Day ✨
Even though he retired in 2007, many at Northern Illinois University continue to remember Dr. James Richard Giles, who passed away on September 26, 2025. Known affectionately as Jim, Jimmy, Giles, or Dr. Giles, he was legendary not only for his scholarly insight but also for his humor, warmth, and generosity of spirit. He had a rare gift for enlightening those around him while also infecting them with fits of uncontrollable laughter. Jim was a deeply committed NIU leader, serving on numerous key committees over the course of his career, including the University Council (Executive Secretary, 1985–87), the Faculty Senate (Chair, 1986–88), and the Academic Planning Committee. In each role, he brought wisdom, perspective, and an abiding concern for the health and future of the university.
Born on October 26, 1937, in Bowie, Texas, Jim graduated from Bowie High School in 1956. Even then, his future seemed preordained. His high school yearbook famously described him as “Mrs. Davis’s Ernest Hemingway,” adding: “He is a swell guy whose favorite pastime is laughing and making friends. He may be a great author some day, if the publishers can read his writing.”
Jim became a prolific academic writer and editor, publishing nine single-authored scholarly books, co-editing six editions of the Dictionary of Literary Biography with his wife Wanda, and producing countless articles in scholarly journals.
He was widely hailed as a major voice in American literary studies, especially for his theory of “fourthspace,” articulated in his 2006 book The Spaces of Violence. One scholar wrote that the book “establishes Giles as one of our most incisive and energetic critics of violence in late 20th century American fiction.” For his accomplishments in teaching, scholarship, and service, Jim received the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2002 and was named a Presidential Teaching Professor in 2004.
Jim and Wanda moved to DeKalb in 1970 to join the English Department at NIU, where Jim remained until his retirement in 2007. Their daughter, Morgan Kathleen, was born the following year. In the department, Jim served on or chaired countless thesis and dissertation committees, mentoring students with care, patience, and deep intellectual engagement. His commitment to international colleagues was equally remarkable. Jim was instrumental in securing a $182,000 Fulbright Grant to host English literature scholars from around the world at an NIU summer institute. He helped lead the institute for several years, creating what colleagues recall as an atmosphere of generosity and global exchange.
Jim’s classes were consistently in high demand. According to one colleague, “Students and colleagues always leaned in to hear Jim, because they knew that if whatever he said wasn’t the most incisive comment they had ever heard, it would probably be the funniest.” His lectures, often delivered in a slow building Texas storytelling cadence, blended rigorous scholarship with dry wit and self deprecating humor. Among Jim’s students was Don Henley of the Eagles, who credited Jim as profoundly influential in his intellectual development. In 1998, Henley invited Jim to be his guest at the initiation of the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods, where Jim met President Bill Clinton.
Jim’s family, friends, students, and colleagues remember him as “an extraordinary professor,” “an amazing human being,” “warm, encouraging, and funny,” and “beloved among the graduate students.” Former English Department Chair Dr. Amy Levin recalled fond memories of dinners and readings with Jim and Wanda, including trips to Town House Books in St. Charles. She emphasized the lasting influence of Jim’s scholarship: “Jim's most important gift to me was the theory of Fourthspace and its relation to violence. I applied it to what happens when museum exhibitions disturb visitors emotionally. That article has ended up being my most cited work.”
Former graduate student Dr. Scott Stalcup remembered Jim’s distinctive habits and generosity: “He had the same appreciation for Coca Cola in glass bottles I do. It got to be a ritual—even after I wasn't his student—that I'd bring him a bottle to sip during class. Of course, you can't talk about Jim without mentioning Wanda. They were two halves of a whole.”
Professor Tim Ryan, who joined NIU as Jim was retiring, pointed to the enduring reach of Jim’s scholarship: “Whenever I teach Their Eyes Were Watching God, I encourage students to take a look at the bibliography. By far the earliest published scholarly analysis of the novel happens to be by a certain ‘Giles, James R.’ And I tell the students, ‘Jim was a professor of English here at NIU, and he was always way ahead of the curve like that.’”
NIU English Professor Jeffrey Einboden described Jim’s presence as both intellectual and deeply human: “A brilliant scholar who seemed to have read the entirety of American Literature, Jim was also incredibly generous and affable. Even after retiring, Jim remained a beloved authority and mentor on countless dissertation committees. In both his charity and passion, Jim was the very model of what the Humanities should be.”
Communications Professor Ferald Bryan recalled their early conversations before Faculty Senate and University Council meetings: “He was very wise and experienced about university affairs. I will always be grateful for the warmth and wisdom that he shared in our conversations. He will truly be missed.” Former student and now Professor William Covey credited Jim with changing his life’s direction: “I loved his dry sense of humor, his self deprecation, the slow build of his Texas storytelling style… Because of Dr. Giles, I flip flopped my plan of study, becoming an English major. Here’s to Dr. Giles who righted my path.”
Poet and creative writing professor Karl Elder recalled the impact of Jim’s feedback: “I searched and found Jim’s big, bold handwriting in red, ‘A truly excellent paper in every way.’ Those kind words tremendously influenced my confidence to pursue a career as a writer and professor. I loved him especially for the way he listened to students.”
Retired teacher Anne Rukavina Williams reflected: “His seemingly meandering lectures, equal parts scholarship and witty anecdotes, always carried his students to a better understanding… Because of Professor Giles I became a better thinker and a better teacher.” Steve Franklin and Ellen Franklin remembered Jim as central to the intellectual and social life of the department, noting that “Jim was beloved by grad students and never missed an occasion to spend time talking over a few beers and cigarettes.”
Former NIU English and current City College of New York CUNY Professor Keith Gandal’s remarks at Jim’s 2007 retirement captured Jim’s humor and humility. Gandal recalled Jim’s habit of announcing his impending retirement whenever anything went wrong, joking that Jim had become “the boy who cried wolf.” Yet he also offered a serious tribute, calling Jim “a consummate scholar, a superb teacher, and an irreplaceable colleague,” someone who “has read everything… and yet somehow remains humble and approachable.” Many also remember the years when Jim and Wanda held court at the Hillside Restaurant, where conversation, laughter, and friendship flourished.
Jim Giles leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of scholarship, mentorship, and humanity. He will be deeply missed.
