Finding Mentors in a Subfield

[JennyFieldsOriginal]

I'm trying to decide where to apply for literature PhD programs for Fall 2010. I'll be applying in the subfield of Early American lit, with an emphasis on Puritan religious culture, especially Jonathan Edwards (I could go on but I'll spare everyone the agony). I'm not rigid about finding people whose interests match mine exactly, but there seem to be comparatively few professors at each school whose interests seem to be a good fit.

My question is this: Is applying to schools where only one or two professors work in your area a mistake? I'm going to find it extremely difficult NOT to do this, simply because the majority of English departments aren't packed with professors who work on this subject. Through my undergraduate career, I've been advised by professors who don't share my specific interests but work in the time period. These people have been incredibly knowledgeable, supportive, and helpful with my projects...yet I would never have known this simply by researching their publications, etc.

I was just wondering if anyone else had this experience applying in a particular subfield, and if you think it's going to be a huge handicap if I don't have a big laundry list of faculty I'd want to work with right out of the gate.

[Pamphilia]

I actually visited my undergrad institution last week to meet with my old mentors and we discussed exactly this. I've been extremely stressed out trying to research individual faculty members at every school I'm interested in and trying to read everything they've ever published to see who matches my interests best. My mentors' overwhelming responses were that I was waaay overthinking and over-researching. Basically, they advised that while finding someone who meshes perfectly with you is great, but that it is much better to find a generally strong program with a breadth of faculty who you would be interested in working with (that is, for example, a depth of people working in your period). First, your interests may change dramatically while you're in grad school. Second, faculty leave, die, retire all the time, so it's unwise to choose a program for only 1 or 2 people--they might not be there in a couple of years. Third, you might thing Prof. X is great, but that doesn't guarantee X will be your advisor. Fourth, you may love Prof. X's work, but it doesn't mean you will love Prof. X--clicking with someone's scholarship doesn't guarantee a fruitful relationship.

My mentors DID emphasize fit, but for all of these reasons cautioned me against looking for too narrow a fit (i.e., one or two profs whose scholarship I love, as I was doing). I would say talk to your old profs. Get the inside scoop on program/faculty.

[greekdaph]

Check out Phillip Gura at UNC-Chapel Hill (there's a student there working on religion and early American lit, and I think Gura is his committee head; also, UNC has huge committees, so there are at least 5 people there who would be conversant in your field). Also check out Rutgers, and Michael Warner at Yale. Delaware is strong in early American, too, I think?