Alan Rowland Chisholm (1888–1981), often referred to as A. R. Chisholm, was a distinguished professor of French, critic and memorialist. During the more than three decades he spent at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

, the French "program became a world-renowned centre of scholarship in French literature".French at the University of Melbourne
arts.unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved 21 February 2017. He was an expert in French

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and real ...

poetry, particularly that of

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of t ...

Early life and education

Alan Rowland Chisholm was born in

Bathurst Bathurst may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Australia * Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia and the following things associated with the city ** Bathurst Region, the local government area for the Bathurst urban area and rural surrounds ** ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

on 6 November 1888. His parents were William Samuel Chisholm, a coach painter, and Eliza, née Heagren. When his family moved to Sydney, he attended school at public schools in Milsons Point and North Sydney and then from 1905 to 1907 at Fort Street Model School, where he studied French and Latin. He attended the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

, where he studied French, under

George Gibb Nicholson George Gibb Nicholson (1875–1948), often referred to as G. G. Nicholson, was an English-born Australian philologist and professor of French. He was the inaugural McCaughey Professor of French at University of Sydney.Angus Martin"The Teaching ...

, and Latin, graduating in 1911 with first class honours in French. He also won the 1911 Frederick Lloyd Memorial Prize for a Latin essay on a specified subject. After teaching at Fort Street and Glen Innes, he obtained a scholarship which enabled him to travel to Germany in 1912 and study German at the Institut Tilly in Berlin. In 1913 he moved to Paris, where he attended the lectures of

Gustave Lanson Gustave Lanson (5 August 1857 – 15 December 1934) was a French historian and literary critic. He taught at the Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. A dominant figure in French literary criticism, he influenced several gene ...

and was awarded

International Phonetic Association The International Phonetic Association (IPA; French: ', ''API'') is an organization that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. The IPA's major contribution to phonetics is the Interna ...

certificates of proficiency in the phonetics of French and German. In 1914 he returned to Sydney and was appointed lecturer in modern languages at the

Sydney Teachers' College The Sydney Teachers' College was a tertiary education institution that trained school teachers in Sydney, Australia. It existed from 1906 until the end of 1981, when it became the Sydney Institute of Education, a part of the new Sydney College ...

. When World War I broke out, Chisholm enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in December 1915. He served on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

in the "Australian Wireless Section (Corps Signals) to act as interpreter on Front Line listening posts for detection of German telephone work by means of listening set". He was demobilised in October 1919. Returning to the Sydney Teachers' College, he founded the ''Modern Language Review of New South Wales''. His friend

Christopher Brennan Christopher John Brennan (1 November 1870 – 5 October 1932) was an Australian poet, scholar and literary critic. Biography Brennan was born in Haymarket, an inner suburb of Sydney, to Christopher Brennan (d. 1919), a brewer, and his wife ...

, the Australian poet and scholar, alerted him in 1919 to the links between German romanticism and French symbolism, which led to his lifelong interest in the poetry of the French symbolist poet

University of Melbourne

In 1921 Chisholm was appointed as lecturer in charge of French at the

where he was to spend the rest of his career. Two years later he became a senior lecturer. He introduced several major changes in the university's French courses:

Almost from the start he promoted philological, medieval and Renaissance studies, as well as classical and nineteenth-century French literature, and pioneered the teaching of modern and contemporary authors. The historical bias was redressed by various 'special studies' that were critical, aesthetic and philosophical.Stan Scott
Biography – Alan Rowland Chisholm (1888–1981)'
Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, adb.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 19 February 2017.

He taught honours German courses during fellow modern languages academic Associate Professor Augustin Lodewyckx's sabbaticals in 1924, 1931 and 1937. In 1930 he published "his pioneer study" ''The Art of

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...

''.Obituary: Alan Rowland Chisholm (1888–1981)
''

French Studies ''French Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for French Studies. It was established in 1947 and covers all periods of French and francophone literature and cultur ...

'', Volume XXXVI, Issue 2, April 1982, pp. 246–247. Retrieved 21 February 2017. Reprinted in:

Lloyd James Austin Lloyd James Austin British Academy, FBA (4 November 1915 – 30 December 1994) was an Australian linguist and literary scholar, who worked in Great Britain as a university teacher. Life and work Lloyd Austin studied at the University of Melb ...

''Poetic Principles and Practice: Occasional Papers on Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Valéry''
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987, . In the same year he was appointed associate professor in French at the University of Melbourne and in 1938 he was promoted to professor of French. After extensive study of the works of

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the p ...

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ca ...

Jules de Gaultier Jules de Gaultier (1858 in Paris – 1942 in Boulogne-sur-Seine), born Jules Achille de Gaultier de Laguionie, was a French philosopher and essayist. He was a contributor to ''Mercure de France'' and one of the chief advocates of "nietzscheism" i ...

and

Fritz Strich Fritz Strich (13 December 1882''Meyers Neues Lexikon.'' Bibliographisches Institut Mannheim, 1980. volume 7: Ru–Td, . – 15 August 1963) was a Swiss-German literature historian. Life Born in Königsberg, Strich was a student of Franz Muncker ...

, Chisholm wrote ''Towards Hérodiade'' (1934), an "important and influential" work on Mallarmé's place in the world of "nineteenth century ideas and sensibility". In 1938 he published his "sensitive and penetrating essay on the lengthy poem by

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mu ...

entitled "Le Jeune Parque". The essay, ''An Approach to M. Valéry's 'Jeune Parque, was honoured by the following gratifying comment by Valéry himself: "vous m'avez lu très attentivement"

ou have read me very attentively OU or Ou or ou may stand for: Universities United States * Oakland University in Oakland County, Michigan * Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama * Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia * Ohio University in Athens, Ohio * Olivet Univ ...

During World War II he espoused the cause of

Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exil ...

and ''Italia Libera'' and published numerous articles in the Melbourne '' Argus'' newspaper calling for support for France. In the 1940s and 1950s Chisholm gave a series of "spellbinding" lectures on Baudelaire, Mallarmé and

Valéry The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...

. His French department became known in Europe as the "a 'Melbourne School' of scrupulous Mallarméan exegesis". According to Bertrand Marchal, "L'université de Melbourne, au temps du professeur Chisholm, fut un véritable vivier des études mallarméennes, et de Christophe Brennan à

, l'Australie peut revendiquer le titre de deuxième patrie de Mallarmé." [the University of Melbourne in the time of Professor Chisholm was a veritable breeding ground of Mallarméan studies, and from Christopher Brennan to Lloyd James Austin, Australia can claim to be the second homeland of Mallarmé.] More broadly, "the 'Melbourne school', as it came to be known the world over, became a byword for outstanding published contributions to the study of 19th and 20th century French poetry, especially Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Valéry."R. T. Sussex
Obituary: Alan Rowland Chisholm
Australian Academy of the Humanities, humanities.org.au. Retrieved 21 February 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017. While at Melbourne University Chisholm taught and "formed" many distinguished French scholars, some of whom (including James Lawler) went on to professorial chairs in the United States and others (including

Lloyd Austin Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star general who, since his appointment on January 22, 2021, has served as the 28th United States secretary of defense. He is the first African American to serv ...

) to chairs in the United Kingdom. Lloyd Austin described his personality and influence as follows:

His gentle, friendly personality won him the deep affection of many of his students; his great generosity in appreciation endeared him to younger scholars; the originality and authority of his thought and the elegance and precision of his writing earned him high esteem from junior and senior colleagues alike throughout the world.

In 1950 he was one of the main forces behind the founding of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association (since 1957 known as the Australasian Universities Languages and Literature Association, or AULLA in short).

Retirement

Chisholm retired in 1956 after a career of 35 years at the University of Melbourne and entered a "new and fruitful period of research". He took the opportunity to revisit Europe and in following years edited works by the Australian poets

John Shaw Neilson John Shaw Neilson was an Australian poetry, Australian poet. Slightly built, for most of his life he worked as a labourer, fruit-picking, clearing scrub, navvying and working in quarries, and, after 1928, working as a messenger with the VicRoads ...

and

, wrote articles on French poetry that were published in academic journals, wrote reviews for Melbourne's

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...

newspaper, and wrote fine poems (some of which were not published but known to his friends). In 1956 he became one of the Foundation Members of the Australian Humanities Research Council and in 1969 became one of the Foundation Fellows of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Austra ...

. He wrote two autobiographies, ''Men Were My Milestones'' (1958) and ''The Familiar Presence'' (1966). He published ''Mallarmé's Grand Oeuvre'' (1962), a work of synthesis based in part on the many articles and reviews he had published on the poet over the years. He died on 9 September 1981 at the age of ninety-two years at Armadale, Melbourne.

Legacy

In addition to greatly improving the quality of teaching and research in Melbourne University's French department, it was Chisholm's "special achievement ... to raise French studies here n Australia(until then, barely tolerated, along with German and English, by hard-line classicists) to the status of a highly relevant and authentic academic discipline". His creation of a department widely known for its "vitality and wide scholarly coverage" was based on "the conviction, on the one hand, that a foreign language was a living thing, to be both spoken and written by students, and on the other hand that literature was ''par excellence'' the highway to the study of man."

Personal life

In 1915 Chisolm married Laurel May Genger. They had one son, John Angus (1916–1978), and divorced in September 1923. In November of the same year he married Lillian Norah Mulholland (died 1968) and they had one daughter, Amélie ("Mimi") Madeline Alice (1924–2009).

Awards and honours

*Officier de la

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

(1951) *

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(1961) *Honorary D.Litt. (

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

, 1971) * Cavaliere of the Order of Merit of the Republic of ItalyLloyd James Austin, ''Poetic Principles and Practice: Occasional Papers on Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Valéry'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987, p. 337.

Bibliography

* *''Towards Hérodiade. A Literary Genealogy'' (Melbourne University Press in association with Oxford University Press, 1934; New York, AMS Press, 1979) *''An Approach to M.

's Jeune Parque'' (Melbourne University Press, 1938) *'' Mallarmé's L'après-midi d'un faune: An Exegetical and Critical Study'' (Melbourne University Press on behalf of the Australian Humanities Research Council, 1958; in French translation: Brussels, J. Antoine, 1974) *''Men Were My Milestones: Australian Portraits and Sketches'' (Melbourne University Press, 1958) *''Mallarmé's'' Grand Œuvre (Manchester University Press, 1962) * *''The Familiar Presence and Other Reminiscences'' (Melbourne University Press, 1966) ;As editor *'' Chateaubriand: Atala'' (London: J. M. Dent, 1932) *'' Gautier: Le capitaine Fracasse'' (London: J. M. Dent, 1932) *''Light out of France: French Contributions to Civilization'' (Sydney and London: Angus & Robertson, 1951). Co-edited with John G. Stanbury *''Thirty French Poems with Comments'' (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1957) *''The Verse of

'' (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1963). Co-edited with J. J. Quinn *''Selected Poems of Christopher Brennan'' (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1966) *''The Poems of

Shaw Neilson John Shaw Neilson was an Australian poet. Slightly built, for most of his life he worked as a labourer, fruit-picking, clearing scrub, navvying and working in quarries, and, after 1928, working as a messenger with the Country Roads Board in Mel ...

'' (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1973)

References

External links

Professor Alan Rowland Chisholm, University of Melbourne, circa 1950–1960
– portrait of A. R. Chisholm. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chisholm, Alan Rowland 1888 births 1981 deaths Australian literary critics Literary critics of French Meanjin people Members of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique Academic staff of the University of Melbourne University of Sydney alumni