Frank Lentricchia was born 23 May 1940 in Utica, New York to Frank John and Ann (née Yacovella) Lentricchia, working-class, second-generation Italian Americans. As a child, he was in most respects ordinary: he attended public school, where he excelled, developed a love of reading, which he was able to indulge at the public library, and played baseball with friends. Doing well in school and loving to read, however, was not the anticipated behavior for a boy from his background. Conversely, the demographic ordinariness of Lentricchia's upbringing provided him with something other than the ordinary experience of a future academic.

After receiving a bachelor of arts degree from Utica College in 1962, Lentricchia attended Duke University, earning his M.A. in 1963 and Ph.D. in 1966. At Duke he studied with Bernard Duffey, under whose influence he developed some of his abiding interests, including that in the modern long poem. He...