Virginia James Tufte (August 19, 1918 – March 28, 2020) was a writer and distinguished emerita professor of English at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. Her special fields were Milton, Renaissance poetry, and the history and grammar of English.

Early life and education

Virginia James was born in Meadow Grove, Nebraska, one of the ten children of Micah Dickerson James and Sarah Elizabeth Bartee James. Both of her parents were from Virginia. She attended

Midland College Midland College (MC) is a public community college in Midland, Texas. It was established as an independent junior college in 1972 and held its first classes on campus in 1975. Since that time, the campus has expanded to a main campus on in Mi ...

and worked as a reporter at the ''

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

'' and the ''Nebraska State Journal'' as a young woman. After marriage, Tufte pursued further education, earning a bachelor's degree from the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

in 1944, a master's degree from Arizona State University, and master's and doctoral degrees in English literature from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

. Her 1964 dissertation was titled "Literary Backgrounds and Motifs of the

Epithalamium An epithalamium (; Latin form of Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον ''epithalamion'' from ἐπί ''epi'' "upon," and θάλαμος ''thalamos'' nuptial chamber) is a poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber. This form ...

in English to 1650".

Career

Tufte was a member of the English faculty of the

for 25 years, beginning in 1964, and retiring in 1989. At USC, she won teaching awards and was a co-founder of several interdisciplinary programs. She was perhaps best known for ''Grammar as Style'' (1971), which developed a new following several decades after it had gone out of print, prompting her to write its successor, ''Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style'' (2006). Besides her work on syntax and style, Tufte was notable for books and essays in two other areas of literary study and for a video biography. Her book ''The Poetry of Marriage: The Epithalamium in Europe and its Development in England'' (1970), a comprehensive history of the English epithalamium, grew from her doctoral research. She also made studies of artists as interpreters of John Milton's poems. Besides numerous essays and contributions to books in this field, some in collaboration with Wendy Furman-Adams of

Whittier College Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...

, she wrote and produced a one-hour video

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

of a literary illustrator ''Reaching for Paradise: The Life and Art of

Carlotta Petrina Carlotta K. Petrina (September 6, 1901 – December 11, 1997) was an American illustrator and printer, awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1933 for her illustrations to accompany John Milton's ''Paradise Lost''. Early life and education Charlotte F ...

'' (1994) that has appeared on educational television stations, is archived in college and university libraries, and is in use in classrooms. Tufte's interest in life and family histories is reflected also in two collaborative books with anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff, ''Changing Images of the Family'' (1981) and ''Remembered Lives: The Work of Ritual, Storytelling and Growing Older'' (1992).

Personal life

Virginia James married Edward E. Tufte in Omaha in 1940; her husband was city engineer and public works director of the city of Beverly Hills, California, for many years. Their son is Edward Rolf Tufte, an expert in the field of information design, and active as a sculptor. Virginia James Tufte was widowed when her husband died in 1999; she died in 2020, aged 101 years, at her home in Beverly Hills.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tufte, Virginia Writers from Nebraska University of Southern California faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Nebraska alumni Arizona State University alumni Linguists of English American academics of English literature 1918 births 2020 deaths American centenarians Women centenarians