Evelyn Frederick Charles Ludowyk (1906–1985) was a

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

an scholar, author,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

, and the first professor of English of the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

. He was a Sri Lankan Burgher. He married Hungarian-born psychotherapist Edith Gyömröi.

Early life and education

A member of a prominent Dutch Burgher family, Ludowyk had his secondary education at

Wesley College, Colombo Wesley College popularly known as "Wesley" or "The Double Blues", is a Methodist school providing primary and secondary education in Sri Lanka since 1874. History In 1858, Rev. Joseph Rippon wanted to establish a superior educational instit ...

and Richmond College,

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

. In 1922 he entered the

Ceylon University College Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...

and obtained a first class degree in English from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He was awarded a government scholarship to study further at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1929. While at Cambridge he was deeply influenced by

I. A. Richards Ivor Armstrong Richards CH (26 February 1893 – 7 September 1979), known as I. A. Richards, was an English educator, literary critic, poet, and rhetorician. His work contributed to the foundations of New Criticism, a formalist movement in ...

and

F. R. Leavis Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis ( ; 14 July 1895 – 14 April 1978) was an English literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for much of his career at Downing College, Cambridge, and later at the University of York. Leav ...

. In 1936 he obtained his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from Cambridge, writing a dissertation on "English and English Education in Ceylon".

Academic career

He returned to Ceylon from Cambridge in 1932 and was appointed a Lecturer in English at the Ceylon University College. In 1936 was appointed Professor of English. In 1940 he was also appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts. When the University College was converted into the University of Ceylon, Ludowyk was appointed its first Professor of English in 1942. He was made the first Dean of Arts in the newly established University in Peradeniya in 1952. Among his students there was the linguistics lecturer and children's writer

Chitra Fernando Chitra Fernando (1935–1998) was a writer of short stories and children's literature from Sri Lanka. She was born in the city of Kalutara in southern Sri Lanka.Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, eds., ''The Feminist Companio ...

. In 1956 Ludowyk retired from the University of Ceylon and migrated to the United Kingdom.

Dramatist

Ludowyk joined the University College Dramatic Society in 1922. He produced a number of plays after returning from Cambridge. His most well-known production is the play ''He Comes from Jaffna'', which is still staged in Sri Lanka today. He was the producer of many of the productions by the University College Dramatic Society. He also collaborated with

Ediriweera Sarachchandra Veditantirige Ediriweera Ranjitha Sarachchandra (born Veditantirige Eustace Reginold de Silva; 3 June 1914 – 16 August 1996), popularly known as Ediriweera Sarachchandra ), was a Sri Lankan playwright, novelist, poet, literary critic, essayist ...

to produce ''Kapuwa Kapothi'', an adaptation of

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

's play "Marriage" in 1945.

Personal life

In 1940 he met and married Edith Gyömröi. In 1956, because the island's humid climate caused Edith problems, the couple moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Later they settled in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

. Ludowyk died in Colchester in 1985.

Works

Books

* ''Marginal Comments'' (1945) * ''The Footprint of the Buddha'' (London, 1958) * ''The Story of Ceylon'' (London, 1962) * ''Understanding Shakespeare'' (Cambridge, 1962) * ''The Modern History of Ceylon'' (London, 1966) * ''Those Long Afternoons: Childhood in Colonial Ceylon'' (Colombo, 1989)

Plays

* ''He Comes from Jaffna'' (1933)