Lloyd James Austin (4 November 1915 – 30 December 1994) was an Australian linguist and literary scholar, who worked in Great Britain as a university teacher.

Life and work

Lloyd Austin studied at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

under Alan Rowland Chisholm and, with a French Government scholarship, at the University of Paris from 1937 under the supervision of Maurice Levaillant. There on 3 April 1940 he presented his doctorate entitled ''

Paul Bourget Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (; 2 September 185225 December 1935) was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Paul Bourget was born in Amiens, France. He initially abandoned Catholicism ...

: sa vie et son œuvre jusqu'en 1889'' (Paris: Librairie E. Droz, 1940), setting out for Australia shortly thereafter with his French wife, a graduate in English from the Sorbonne, on one of the last boats to leave France. He taught first of all in a school in Melbourne, served in the war from 1942 to 1945 and after the war was appointed to a lectureship at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

in Scotland. In the early 1950s he spent an extended period of research in Paris, taking up a position in 1956 as Professor of Modern French Literature at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in succession to Percy Mansell Jones (1889–1968). In 1961 he moved to Cambridge and in 1967 succeeded Lewis Charles Harmer to the Drapers Chair of French, 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 ...

. He served as General Editor of ''

French Studies ''French Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for French Studies. It was established in 1947 and covers all periods of French and francophone literature and culture. ...

'' from 1967 to 1980. From 1980 Austin succeeded

Eugène Vinaver Eugène Vinaver ( ''Yevgeniĭ Maksimovich Vinaver'', 18 June 1899 – 21 July 1979) was a Russian-born British literary scholar who is best known today for his edition of the works of Sir Thomas Malory. Early life Vinaver was born in Saint Pet ...

as foreign member of the

Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique The (; 'Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium') or ARLLFB is a Belgian institution which brings together personalities who, through their works, writings, lectures or speeches, have contributed most eminently to the illustra ...

He in turn was succeeded by

Robert Darnton Robert Choate Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian and academic librarian who specializes in 18th-century France. He was director of the Harvard University Library from 2007 to 2016. Life Darnton was born in New Yor ...

. He married Jeanne-Françoise Guérin in 1939 and they had three sons (including the photographer

James Austin James Austin may refer to: Sports * Jim Austin (baseball) (born 1963), former baseball pitcher * Jim Austin (rugby league), New Zealand rugby league player * James Austin (judoka) (born 1983), English judoka * James Austin (American football) (1913 ...

and the scholar of ancient Greek Colin Austin) and one daughter.

Other works

* ''L'Univers poétique de Baudelaire. Symbolisme et symbolique'', Paris:

Mercure de France The () was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was publis ...

, 1956 *(ed. with Henri Mondor) ''Correspondance de Mallarmé'', 11 vols., Paris: Gallimard, 1959–1985 *(ed. with Garnet Rees and

) ''Studies in modern French literature presented to P. Mansell Jones by pupils, colleagues and friends'', Manchester:

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England, and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with t ...

, 1961 *(ed. with Henri Mondor) ''Les « Gossips » de Mallarmé: « Athenaeum » 1875–1876'', Paris: Gallimard, 1962 *''Poetic Principles and Practice: Occasional Papers on Baudelaire, Mallarmé and Valéry'', Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1987 *(ed.) ''Poésies de Stéphane Mallarmé'', Paris:

Flammarion Flammarion may refer to: * Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), French astronomer and author * Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion (1877–1962), French astronomer, second wife of Camille Flammarion * Sylvie Flammarion (1836-1919), French feminist and paci ...

(GF 504), 1989 * ''Essais sur Mallarmé'', ed.

Malcolm Bowie Malcolm McNaughtan Bowie Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (; 5 May 1943 – 28 January 2007) was a British academic, and List of Masters of Christ's College, Cambridge, Master of Christ's College, Cambridge from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scho ...

, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995

Bibliography

* Bowie, Malcolm, Alison Fairlie and Alison Finch (eds) ''Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Valéry: New essays in honour of Lloyd Austin''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982 * Scott, C., "Lloyd James Austin: 1915–1994", ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', 1995, 90, 267–79 * "Studies in memory of Lloyd James Austin", ''Australian Journal of French Studies'', Monash University, 1995, 32, 3 * Obituary in
French Studies
' 49, 1995, pp. 247–8

Honours

* Elected to the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

in 1968 * Awarded honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1973 * Appointed Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite in 1976 * Elected to th
Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique
in 1980 * Elected Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1985

External links

* ttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-professor-lloyd-austin-1573482.html Lloyd Austin obituary in the ''Independent''
Lloyd Austin obituary in ''French Studies''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Lloyd James 1915 births 1994 deaths University of Melbourne alumni Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique Drapers Professors of French Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities