Gerald Moore (22 August 1924 – 27 December 2022) was an English

independent scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a terminal ...

Biography

Moore was born in Chiswick, London, to Rex Moore, an exhibitions officer, and his wife, Norah (nee Sturdee), an actor, on 22 August 1924. He went to

Dauntsey's School Dauntsey's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils aged 11–18 in the village of West Lavington, Wiltshire, England. T ...

in Wiltshire, and when he was 17 years old joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, serving in the Atlantic and Arctic convoys during World War 2. He later studied at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, where he earned a first-class degree in English. Moore taught at many universities, including the

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Makerere Makerere ( ) is a neighborhood in the city of Kampala, Uganda's capital city. The name also applies to the hill on which this neighborhood is perched; one of the original seven hills that constituted Kampala at the time of its founding, in the ...

, Ife,

Port Harcourt Port Harcourt (Pidgin: ''Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa)'' is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is locate ...

Jos Jos is a city in the North-Central region of Nigeria. The city has a population of about 900,000 residents based on the 2006 census. Popularly called "J-Town", it is the administrative capital and largest city of Plateau State. The city is situ ...

and the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. His last teaching post was at

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

. He was primarily a scholar of contemporary African

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and

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

poetry. With

Ulli Beier Chief Horst Ulrich Beier, commonly known as Ulli Beier (30 July 1922 – 3 April 2011), was a German editor, writer and scholar who had a pioneering role in developing the Western world's understanding of literature, drama and poetry in Niger ...

, he edited the influential ''Modern Poetry from Africa'' (1963), a comprehensive

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

, republished in 1984 as '' The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry''.

Personal life

In 1949, he married Joy Fisher, a librarian, with whom he had three children. The couple divorced in 1973, and Moore subsequently married Miriam Garzitto. Moore lived in

Worthing, Sussex Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

, before moving to

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

in Italy. He later returned to Sussex, in 2010, after his wife Miriam died. Moore died on 27 December 2022, at the age of 98.

Major works

*''Seven African Writers''. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. *''Modern Poetry from Africa'' (ed. with Ulli Beier). Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963 (Penguin African Books). Revised as ''The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry'', 4th edition, 1999. *''African Literature and the Universities''. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press (for Congress for Cultural Freedom, 1965. *''The Chosen Tongue: English Writing in the Tropical World''. Harlow: Longmans, 1969. *''

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

''. London: Evans Brothers, 1971. *''Twelve African Writers''. London: Hutchinson, 1980 (University Library for Africa). As translator: * Beti, Mongo. ''The Poor Christ of Bomba''. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland, 2005. *Beti, Mongo. ''Remember Ruben.'' Heinemann, London, 1980 *

Tchicaya U Tam'si Tchicaya U Tam'si (born Gérald-Félix Tchicaya, 25 August 1931 – 22 April 1988) was a Congolese author; his pen name means "small paper that speaks for its country" in Kikongo. Life Born in Mpili, near Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa ...

. ''Selected Poems.'' Heinemann, London, 1970 * Lopes, Henri. ''The Laughing Cry.'' Readers International, London, 1987

References

1924 births 2022 deaths Academics from London Academics of the University of Sussex Academic staff of the University of Hong Kong Academic staff of the University of Jos Academic staff of Obafemi Awolowo University Academic staff of Makerere University Academic staff of the University of Port Harcourt Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge British expatriates in Hong Kong British expatriates in Nigeria English expatriates in the United States British expatriates in Uganda English literary critics People from Chiswick University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty {{UK-academic-bio-stub