Letter from Author Magda Teter

Here is a letter from Magda Teter, author of Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland: A Beleaguered Church in the Post-Reformation Era, Cambridge University Press, 2006; Sinners on Trial: Jews and Sacrilege after the Reformation, Harvard University Press, 2011).

Jeannette has been one of the most important people in my life, and I say it without exaggeration. Since our first meeting, she has been present and near even when we were apart.  My students and colleagues can feel her presence when I comment on their papers, articles, and book manuscripts.  I cannot pretend I can imitate her – no one can – but she taught me more about writing than anyone else in my entire life.  And while I still have ways to go and improve – which is why she will be missed so sorely – from Jeannette I have learned skills and writing techniques I had not known before.  But that was not all she taught me over the last nine years.

During our first meeting, after Jeannette amazingly read everything scholarly I had written until then – published and unpublished papers, versions of chapters—she told me that my writing was boring. “If you taught the way you write, students would be bored and walk out of your classes,” she said and urged me to find my voice.  And so, I began to look for it. I did find it – apparently to Jeannette’s satisfaction – but not just in my prose.  “Finding my voice” was more than just finding it in writing, I found it also more broadly by gaining more self-confidence as a scholar, teacher, and a colleague. I worked with Jeannette on two books and began working on the third one, but her impact has been much greater and I am grateful for that.

In my first book, I called Jeannette an “academic therapist,” for she was tough. Working with her was sometimes painful, but always rewarding, if one was willing to open up,acknowledge problems, and work through them.  Her frequent barrage of pointed questions was sometimes infuriating but always resulting in a much stronger piece of scholarship and better prose. Thanks to Jeannette I found my voice and learned to use words more effectively.   She will live on as I continue to work on my writing and pass what I learned from her on to my students and colleagues.  I will always be grateful to her. I am grateful for having known her.