Alan Frank Keele (born November 17, 1942) is an American writer and languages and humanities professor. Keele teaches at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU) where he is the Ludwig-Weber-Siebach Chair of German and Humanities and has previously served as chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and associate dean of Honors and General Education. Keele has written a number of works on postwar German literature and on topics related to Mormanism. His book on Helmuth Hübener was made into a PBS documentary.

Early life and education

Keele was born in Provo and attended school in

Springville, Utah Springville is a city in Utah County, Utah, Utah County, Utah, United States, that is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area. The population was 35,268 in 2020, according to the United States Census. Springville is a bedroom community for co ...

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie () is a List of municipalities in Wyoming, city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States, known for its high elevation at , for its railroad history, and as the home of the University of Wyoming. The population wa ...

Spanish Fork, Utah Spanish Fork is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area. The 2020 census reported a population of 42,602. Spanish Fork is the 20th largest city in Utah based on official 2017 estimates from the ...

, and

Bicknell, Utah Bicknell is a town along Utah State Route 24, State Route 24 in Wayne County, Utah, Wayne County, Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the town population was 327. History Bicknell was originally called Thurbe ...

, where he graduated from Wayne High School in 1960. Keele initially attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

with the intent to major in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. After his missionary service, Keele attended BYU, where he received a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in German and

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

in 1967. He received a Ph.D. in German Language and Literature from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1971.

Career

At BYU, Keele has chaired the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and was associate dean of Honors and General Education. He has served on numerous departmental, college, university and professional committees and councils, contributing to the development of BYU's academics and services. Keele has participated in the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

, the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Language, the

German Studies Association The German Studies Association (GSA) is an international organization of scholars in history, literature, economics, cultural studies, and political science who study Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The organization began in 1976 as the Wester ...

, and has chaired the German section of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association. At BYU, Keele has taught German language and literature, and some honors and humanities courses. He received several honors for his academic work, including Honors Professor of the Year in 1992, the Abraham O. Smoot citizenship award in 1995, the Karl G. Maeser General Education Professorship in 1996, and the Alcuin award in 2007. He is currently the Ludwig-Weber-Siebach Chair of German and Humanities. Among other publications Keele has collaborated with Douglas F. Tobler, Blair R. Holmes and Karl-Heinz Schnibbe in writing about the activities of Helmuth Hübener and his associates in defying Hitler. Keele has also written on the works of

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gda ...

Personal life

Keele is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) for which he served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

for 30 months in Germany, from 1962 to 1964. He has also served in other roles in the church, including as a

branch president A branch president is a leader of a "branch" congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The calling of branch president is very similar to the calling of bishop, except that instead of presiding over a ward, th ...

, a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, and twice as a

high councilor A stake is an administrative unit composed of multiple congregations in certain denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. The name "stake" derives from the Book of Isaiah: "enlarge the place of thy tent; stretch forth the curtains of thine ha ...

. Keele is married to Linda Kay Sellers and they have six children. Keele has participated in various community and civic activities, including on the board of Utahns United Against the Nuclear Arms Race, on the Area Advisory Council for the

Alpine School District Alpine School District. The district was founded in 1915, and includes all grades from kindergarten through high school (K-12). As of 2018, there were 58 elementary schools, 14 junior high schools, 11 high schools, and 9 special purpose sch ...

, and as chair of the Utah Democratic Forum. With professor Donald K. Jarvis, Keele co-chaired Russian Relief, an organization to collect food and money to help Soviet citizens in need in the early 1990s, for which he received attention from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Published works

Keele has published on postwar German literature, on various social history topics, and two vocabulary dictionaries. He contributed to translations of the 55

Sonnets to Orpheus The ''Sonnets to Orpheus'' () are a cycle of 55 sonnets written in 1922 by the Bohemian- Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). It was first published the following year. Rilke, who is "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically int ...

and the ten

Duino Elegies The ''Duino Elegies'' () are a collection of ten elegy, elegies written by the Bohemian-Austrians, Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. He was then "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", and began the eleg ...

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

, and

Walter Kempowski Walter Kempowski (; 29 April 1929 – 5 October 2007) was a German writer. Kempowski was known for his series of novels called ''German Chronicle'' ("Deutsche Chronik") and the monumental ''Echolot'' ("Sonar"), a collage of autobiographical rep ...

's novel ''Dog Days''. He also created a 10,000 page concordance of the works of Kempowski. Keele has also written on topics of interest to the Latter-day Saint community, such as

pre-existence Pre-existence, premortal existence, beforelife, or life before birth, is the belief that each individual human soul existed before mortal conception, and at some point before birth enters or is placed into the body. Concepts of pre-existence c ...

and the Mormon resistance movement in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. His book on Helmuth Hübener was made into a PBS documentary by KBYU. HÜBENER, a major motion picture with a former working title of "Truth and Treason," starring Haley Joel Osment, has been stalled in "current projects" status since 2008. For his body of work, Keele received a Special Award in Criticism from the

Association for Mormon Letters Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

in 2008. With Marvin H. Folsom, Keele has contributed to foreign language texts based on the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

and the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as ''The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi''. The book is one of ...

. The following is a list of some of Keele's publications: *. * *. * * * * *. * *. * * * * * * *.

References

Sources

*
Barnes and Noble listing of books by Keele

External links

Alan Frank Keele papers, MSS 7726
a
L. Tom Perry Special Collections

Walking tour of Vienna (mp3 and PDF files)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keele, Alan 1942 births 20th-century Mormon missionaries American Mormon missionaries in Germany Brigham Young University alumni Brigham Young University faculty Living people Writers from Provo, Utah Princeton University alumni American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Latter Day Saints from Wyoming Latter Day Saints from Utah