Marilyn Speers Butler, Lady Butler,

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

, FBA (''née'' Evans; 11 February 1937 – 11 March 2014) was a British

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' ...

. She was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature 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 ...

from 1986 to 1993, and Rector of

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

, from 1993 to 2004. She was the first female head of a formerly all-male Oxford or Cambridge college. She won 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 ...

's Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 1973.

Biography

Marilyn Speers Evans was born in

Coombe, Kingston upon Thames Coombe is a historic neighbourhood in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in south west London, England. It sits on high ground, east of Norbiton. Most of the area was part of the former Municipal Borough of Malden and Coombe before local ...

, on 11 February 1937. Her father, Sir Trevor Maldwyn Evans was a journalist and her mother was Margaret Speers "Madge" Evans (née Gribbin). At the age of two, she was evacuated with her mother and elder brother to

New Quay New Quay () is a seaside town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales; it had a resident population of 1,045 at the 2021 census. Located south-west of Aberystwyth, on Cardigan Bay with a harbour and large sandy beaches, the town ...

in Wales, where she remained until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She was educated at

Wimbledon High School Wimbledon High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private girls' day school in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, South West (London sub region), South West London. It is a Girls' Day School Trust school and is a member of the Girls' ...

and

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College (full name = Principal and Council of St. Hilda's College, Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon saint Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a ...

,British Academy: The British Academy Book Prize - Judging Panel
graduating with a first-class degree in English in 1958. She became a school teacher, but in 1960 joined the BBC as a journalist. On 3 March 1962, she married David Butler; the couple had three sons. After she was diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

in 2004, Butler's health declined and she died at Headington Care Home, Oxford, on 11 March 2014 as a result of a respiratory tract infection.

Career

In the early 1960s, Butler left journalism, and returned to academia, completing her doctoral thesis in 1966 in Oxford. She received a research fellowship at

. Her published works include ''Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries'' (1982) and ''Jane Austen and the War of Ideas'' (1975). Much of her work was devoted to the career of the Anglo-Irish Romantic novelist

Maria Edgeworth Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and a significant figure in the evolution of the novel i ...

, a relative of her husband, including a classic literary biography and an important edition of her collected works for Pickering & Chatto. Butler collaborated with her sister-in-law Christina Colvin on Maria Edgeworth, resulting in two books for which they each won the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 1973. In June 2003, Butler was awarded an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the

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as Doctor of the University. She was a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

Works

Books

*''Maria Edgeworth: A Literary Biography'' (1972) *''Jane Austen and the War of Ideas'' (1975) *''Peacock Displayed: A Satirist in His Context'' (1979) *''Romantics, Rebels, and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background, 1760–1830'' (1982) *''Mapping Mythologies: Countercurrents in Eighteenth-Century British Poetry and Cultural History'' (2015)

Edited books

*''Frankenstein: 1818 text'' ( Oxford World's Classics, 1994, rpt 1998, 2008)

References

External links

"Professor Marilyn Butler - obituary"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 10 June 2014.
Profile - British Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Marilyn 1937 births 2014 deaths Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford British literary critics British women literary critics Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature King Edward VII Professors of English Literature Mary Wollstonecraft scholars People educated at Wimbledon High School Rectors of Exeter College, Oxford Rose Mary Crawshay Prize winners Wives of knights Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts