Alastair David Shaw Fowler

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

FBA (1930 – 9 October 2022) was a Scottish literary critic, editor, and an authority on

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; – 13 January 1599 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the House of Tudor, Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is re ...

, Renaissance literature, genre theory, and numerology.

Life and career

Alastair Fowler was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland in 1930. He was educated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, M.A. (1952). He was subsequently awarded an M.A. (1955), D.Phil. (1957) and D.Litt. (1962) from Oxford. As a graduate student at Oxford, Fowler studied with

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

, and later edited Lewis's ''Spenser's Images of Life''. Fowler was a junior research fellow at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

(1955–1959). He also taught at Swansea (1959–1961), and

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

, Oxford (1962–1971). He was Regius Professor of literature at the University of Edinburgh (1972–1984) and also taught intermittently at universities in the United States, including Columbia (1964) and the University of Virginia (1969, 1979, 1985–1998). He delivered the 1980 Warton Lecture on English Poetry. Known for his editorial work, Fowler's edition of

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

's ''Paradise Lost'', part of the Longman poets series, has some of the most scholarly and detailed notes on the poem and is widely cited by Milton scholars. Writing in ''The Guardian'', John Mullan called it "a monument of scholarship." Fowler was critical of some later trends in literary scholarship, including "new historicism". In 2005, he published an extremely critical review of

Stephen Greenblatt Stephen Jay Greenblatt (born November 7, 1943) is an American literary historian and author. He has served as the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University since 2000. Greenblatt is the general editor of ''The Nort ...

's ''Will in the World'', which was widely discussed. Fowler was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to literature and education. His papers are on deposit at the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

. Fowler died on 9 October 2022, at the age of 92.

Work

Edited volumes

* C. S. Lewis, ''Spenser's Images of Life'', 1967 * John Milton, ''Paradise Lost'', 1968, revised edition 2006 * ''Silent Poetry: Essays in Numerological Analysis'', 1970 * ''Topics in Criticism'', ed., with

Christopher Butler Christopher Butler may refer to * Christopher Butler (bishop) (1902–1986), English bishop and monk * Christopher Butler (literary scholar) (1940–2020), English academic, professor of English language and literature at the University of Oxford ...

, 1971 * ''The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse'', 1991, 2008 * ''The Country House Poem'', 1994.

Authored volumes (criticism)

* ''Spenser and the Numbers of Time'', 1964. * ''Triumphal Forms: Structural Patterns in Elizabethan Poetry'', 1970 * ''Conceitful Thought: Interpretation of English Renaissance Poems'', 1975 * ''Kinds of Literature'', 1982. * ''A History of English Literature'', 1987 * ''Times Purple Masquers: Stars and the Afterlife in Renaissance English Literature'', 1996 * ''Renaissance Realism'', 2003 * ''How to Write'', 2006 * ''Literary Names: Personal Names in English Literature'', 2012

Authored volumes (poetry)

* ''Seventeen'', 1971 * ''Catacomb Suburb'', 1976 * ''From the Domain of Arnheim'', 1982 * ''Helen's Topless Towers'', 1993

Reviews

* Craig, Cairns (1982), ''Giving Speech to the Silent'', which includes a review of ''From the Domain of Arnheim'', in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), ''

Cencrastus ''Cencrastus'' was a magazine devoted to Scottish and international literature, arts and affairs, founded after the Referendum of 1979 by students, mainly of Scottish literature, at Edinburgh University, and with support from Cairns Craig, then a ...

'' No. 10, Autumn 1982, pp. 43 & 44,

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Alastair 1930 births 2022 deaths Scottish literary critics Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the British Academy Writers from Glasgow