Roger Sale (1932–May 11, 2017) was an American literary critic and author, brother of

Kirkpatrick Sale Kirkpatrick Sale (born June 27, 1937) is an American author who has written prolifically about political decentralism, environmentalism, luddism and technology. He has been described as having a "philosophy unified by decentralism" and as being " ...

and father of Tim Sale. He spent most of his career as a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of English at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

Children's literature

Sale's influence on literary criticism is most evident in his work on

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

. Prior to his work in the 1960s and 1970s, few professional critics chose to take children's literature seriously, but Sale argued that it could and ought to be given the same respect and scrutiny as adult fiction. In 1978, he published a book entitled ''Fairy Tales and After'', which is essentially a collection of essays defending the literary value of children's literature, and then offering his critical perspective on authors from

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...

. Sale is also credited with being among the first literary critics to seriously discuss the work of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

(which had been largely dismissed as "juvenile" and unworthy of analysis by most prominent critics, most notably Lionel Trilling). His essay "Tolkien and

Frodo Baggins Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, and one of the protagonists in '' The Lord of the Rings''. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly ...

" appeared in '' Tolkien and the Critics'' (ed. by Neal Isaacs and

Rose Zimbardo Rose Abdelnour Zimbardo (born Rose E. Abdelnour; May 29, 1932 – October 25, 2015) was an American professor of English literature. Her work covered such subjects as Shakespeare, Restoration drama, and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. She was a pi ...

) in 1968.

Work as a journalist

Sale contributed frequently to the ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

'', writing 39 reviews and articles for that publication from 1971 to 1983, and offering his critical opinion of such now-notable books as ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

'' by

E. L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...

and '' Dispatches'' by

Michael Herr Michael David Herr (April 13, 1940 – June 23, 2016) was an American writer and war correspondent, known as the author of '' Dispatches'' (1977), a memoir of his time as a correspondent for ''Esquire'' (1967–1969) during the Vietnam War. The ...

. In an entirely different field, Sale served as an occasional columnist for the ''

Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976. The newspaper ...

'', an alternative newspaper, covering the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

' season and playoff performance for over twenty years.

Work as a historian

Surprisingly, although Sale's training and life's work focused on English literature, he is today perhaps best known as the author of a book of history—specifically '' Seattle, Past to Present'', which the L.A. Times called "among the best interpretive histories of a major American city" when it was published in 1976, and which

Knute Berger Knute "Skip" Berger (born December 5, 1953) is an American journalist, writer and editor based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Berger is a columnist for Crosscut.com, writing under the name "Mossback". He is also Editor-at-Large and a ...

, who wrote the introduction for the book's 2019 reissue, describes as a work that has "set a standard for subsequent histories" of Seattle.

Retirement

Roger Sale continued to be a vivid source of literary and intellectual stimulation for colleagues and students after his retirement. He was a mentor to many young literary scholars, and graciously volunteered his time to teach literature courses for University Beyond Bars at

Monroe Correctional Complex Monroe Correctional Complex is a Washington State Department of Corrections men's prison located in Monroe, Washington, United States. With an operating capacity of 2,500, it is the second largest prison in the state. It opened in 1910, 21 year ...

Works

*''Reading Spenser: An Introduction to The Faerie Queene'', 1968 *''On Writing'', 1970 *''Modern Heroism: Essays on D. H. Lawrence, William Empson and J.R.R. Tolkien'', 1973 *''On Not Being Good Enough: Writings of a Working Critic'', 1979 *''Closer to Home: Writers and Places in England, 1780-1830'', 1986

References

External links

A description (by a former student) of Sale's teaching in the early 1970sA list of (and links to) the article written by Sale for the ''New York Review of Books''Online book by a professor of children's literature, whose introduction mentions ''Fairy Tales and After''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sale, Roger 1932 births 2017 deaths American literary critics University of Washington faculty American academics of English literature