{{Short description|American literary scholar (1928–2020)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Use American English|date=May 2026}} '''Martha Banta''' (May 11, 1928{{snd}}March 31, 2020) was an American literary scholar.
Martha Banta was born on May 11, 1928, in Muncie, Indiana.<ref name="conauth">{{Cite book |editor-last1=May |editor-first1=Hal |editor-last2=Lesniak |editor-first2=James G. |chapter=Banta, Martha 1928- |title=Contemporary Authors |title-link=Contemporary Authors |page=36 |volume=29 |series=New Revision Series |year=1990 |publisher=Gale |isbn=0-8103-1983-7 |issn=0275-7176 }}</ref> She received a BA from Indiana University in 1950 and a PhD, also from Indiana, in 1964.<ref name="conauth"/> She taught English at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 1983 onwards, and was named a distinguished professor there.<ref name="uclaobit">{{Cite web |title=Obituary |url=https://english.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Martha-Banta-Obituary.pdf |publisher=Department of English, University of California, Los Angeles |access-date=2026-05-10 }}</ref>
In 1982, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Martha Banta |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/martha-banta |access-date=2026-05-13 |website=Guggenheim Fellowships}}</ref> From 1990 to 1991, Banta was the president of the American Studies Association.<ref name="uclaobit" /> She received the Carl Bode–Norman Holmes Pearson Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Service from the ASA in 2002.<ref name="uclaobit" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bode-Pearson Prize |url=https://theasa.net/awards-prizes/asa-prizes/bode-pearson-prize/ |access-date=2026-05-10 |publisher=American Studies Association}}</ref>
From 1997 to 2000, she edited ''PMLA'', the journal of the Modern Language Association.<ref name="uclaobit" />
Banta died on March 31, 2020, in Pasadena, California.<ref name="uclaobit"/>
== Works == * ''Henry James and the Occult: The Great Extension'' (Indiana University Press, 1972)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=James E. |date=1973 |title=Henry James and the Occult |journal=Modern Fiction Studies |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=267–270 |issn=0026-7724 |jstor=26279027}}</ref> * ''Failure and Success in America: A Literary Debate'' (Princeton University Press, 1978)<ref>Reviews of ''Failure and Success in America'': *{{Cite journal |last=Rowe |first=John Carlos |date=June 1980 |title=Failure and Success in America |journal=Nineteenth-Century Fiction |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=81–84 |doi=10.2307/2933482 |jstor=2933482 |issn=0029-0564}} *{{Cite journal |last=Baym |first=Nina |date=1979 |title=Failure and Success in America |journal=Journal of English and Germanic Philology |volume=78 |issue=4 |pages=584–587 |issn=0363-6941 |jstor=27708573 }} *{{Cite journal |last=Bush |first=Clive |date=1980 |title=Failure and Success in America |journal=Journal of American Studies |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=296–299 |doi=10.1017/S002187580000219X |issn=0021-8758 |jstor=27553849 }}</ref> * ''Imaging American Women: Idea and Ideals in Cultural History'' (Columbia University Press, 1987)<ref>Reviews of ''Imaging American Women'': * {{Cite journal |last=Bolt |first=Christine |date=1989 |title=Imaging American Women |journal=History |volume=74 |issue=242 |pages=447–448 |issn=0018-2648 |jstor=24414309 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Boris |first=Eileen |date=October 1988 |title=Imaging American Women |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=93 |issue=4 |page=1123 |doi=10.2307/1863690 |jstor=1863690}} * {{Cite journal |last=Halttunen |first=Karen |date=March 1989 |title=The Life and Times of the American Girl |journal=American Quarterly |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=190–195 |doi=10.2307/2713207 |jstor=2713207 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Buhle |first=Mari Jo |date=June 1988 |title=Imaging American Women |journal=The Journal of American History |volume=75 |issue=1 |pages=229 |doi=10.2307/1889682 |jstor=1889682}}</ref> * ''Taylored Lives: Narrative Productions in the Age of Taylor, Veblen, and Ford'' (University of Chicago Press, 1993)<ref>Reviews of ''Taylored Lives'': * {{Cite journal |last=Biggs |first=Lindy |date=October 1996 |title=Taylored Lives |journal=Technology and Culture |volume=37 |issue=4 |page=846 |doi=10.2307/3107111 |jstor=3107111 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Rodgers |first=Daniel T. |date=October 1994 |title=Taylored Lives |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=99 |issue=4 |page=1396 |doi=10.2307/2168934 |jstor=2168934}} * {{Cite journal |last=Godden |first=Richard |date=1994 |title=Taylored Lives |journal=Journal of American Studies |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=467–468 |doi=10.1017/S0021875800027845 |issn=0021-8758 |jstor=27555856 }}</ref> * ''Barbaric Intercourse: Caricature and the Culture of Conduct, 1841–1936'' (University of Chicago Press, 2003)<ref>Reviews of ''Barbaric Intercourse'': * {{Cite journal |last=Evelev |first=John |date=2004 |title=Barbaric Intercourse |journal=American Periodicals |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=280–281 |issn=1054-7479 |jstor=20770936 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Okker |first=Patricia |date=2005 |title=Barbaric Intercourse |journal=American Literary Realism |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=74–75 |issn=1540-3084 |jstor=27747185 }}</ref> * ''One True Theory and the Quest for an American Aesthetic'' (Yale University Press, 2007)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoekema |first=David A. |date=2009 |title=One True Theory and the Quest for an American Aesthetic |journal=American Studies |volume=50 |pages=137–138 |issn=0026-3079 |jstor=41287755}}</ref> * ''Henry James: An Alien's "History" of America'' (Sapienza Università Editrice, 2016)<ref>Reviews of ''Henry James'': * {{Cite journal |last=De Biasio |first=Anna |date=February 2019 |title=Henry James |journal=Journal of American Studies |volume=53 |issue=1 |doi=10.1017/S0021875818001767 |issn=0021-8758}} * {{Cite journal |last=Walker |first=Pierre A. |date=2017 |title=Henry James|journal=The Henry James Review |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=E1–E4 |doi=10.1353/hjr.2017.0000 |issn=1080-6555 |id={{Project MUSE|648948}} }}</ref>
== Further reading == * {{Cite journal |last=Walker |first=Pierre A. |date=2021 |title=In Memoriam: Martha Banta 1928–2020 |journal=The Henry James Review |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=95–97 |doi=10.1353/hjr.2021.0011 |issn=1080-6555 |id={{Project MUSE|793310}} }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
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Category:1928 births Category:2020 deaths Category:Indiana University alumni Category:People from Muncie, Indiana Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty
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