LAMS, Victor J. 1935-

PERSONAL: Born April 24, 1935, in Warren, MI; son of Victor J., Sr. (in sales) and Susan (a homemaker; maiden name, De Blouw) Lams; married Barbara Wright (a first-grade teacher), October 18, 1940; children: Martha Lams Da Re, Virginia Lams Parsons, Joseph, Carol. Ethnicity: "Belgian." Education: University of Detroit, B.A., 1958, M.A., 1960; Northwestern University, Ph.D., 1965. Politics: Republican, Religion: Roman Catholic,

ADDRESSES: Home—998 East Seventh St., Chico, CA 95928. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: California State University—Chico, professor of English, 1965-96; retired, 1996.

WRITINGS:

Anger, Guilt, and the Psychology of the Self in "Clarissa," Peter Lang Publishing (New York, NY), 1999.

"Clarissa"'s Narrators, Peter Lang Publishing (New York, NY), 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Newman's Anglican Georgic: Parochial Sermons, on the work of John Henry Newman.

SIDELIGHTS: Victor J. Lams told CA: "My primary motivation for writing is to contribute in some small way to our understanding of particular works of literature, on the assumption that we all share a common nature and that literature explores and illuminates it. I do not write to 'invent' myself."

"I use a yellow legal pad and ball-point pen because I need the intimacy of my own hand acting in concert with my mind. The hand forces the mind to look at and to hear what it just said, which is helpful for accuracy and for better cadence and melody. The computer is useful later on."