Robert Dennis Fulk (born October 2, 1951) is an American

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

and

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

who is Professor Emeritus of English and

Germanic Studies Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary te ...

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

Biography

Fulk was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on October 2, 1951. He received a BA in English from

Oakland University Oakland University (OU or Oakland) is a public university, public research university in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1957 through a donation of Matilda Dodge Wilson and husband ...

in 1973, a MA in English from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1974, an MFA in fiction from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

in 1976, and a

PhD 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 graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in English from the

in 1982. From 1982 to 1983, Fulk was visiting assistant professor of English at

Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832, by a group of Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, the institution was originally named "The Wabash Teachers Seminary an ...

. At

, Fulk served as assistant professor of English from 1983 to 1987, and as associate professor of English from 1987 to 1992. From 1987 to 1988, Fulk was visiting associate professor of English at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. He became a tenured professor at Indiana University Bloomington in 1990. At Indiana University Bloomington, Fulk has been professor of English since 1992, and adjunct professor of

since 2005. Fulk specializes in Germanic studies,

Celtic studies Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celts, Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art h ...

and

Indo-European studies Indo-European studies () is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical p ...

, with a particular focus on language and literature. He is a known expert on

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

and

Old Icelandic Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. Particular areas of research are Old and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

dialectology, phonological and morphological change, textual criticism, and early Germanic metrics. A

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

in honor of Fulk was edited by

Leonard Neidorf Leonard Neidorf (born ) is an American Philology, philologist who is Distinguished Professor of English language, English at Shenzhen University. Neidorf specializes in the study of Old English literature, Old English and Middle English literatur ...

, Rafael J. Pascual, and

Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...

. It was published in 2016 as ''Old English Philology: Studies in Honour of R. D. Fulk'' (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer).

Selected works

* ''Interpretations of Beowulf: A Critical Anthology'', 1991 (contributions by

Jane Chance Jane Chance (born 1945), also known as Jane Chance Nitzsche, is an American scholar specializing in medieval English literature, gender studies, and J. R. R. Tolkien. She spent most of her career at Rice University, where since her retirement she ...

, Stanley B. Greenfield, Francis P. Magoun,

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

and others) * ''A History of Old English Meter'', 1992 * ''A History of Old English Literature'', 2008 * ''Klaeber's Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg'', 2008 * ''The Beowulf Manuscript: Complete Texts and The Fight at Finnsburg'', 2010 * ''A Grammar of Old English, Volume 2: Morphology'', 2012 * ''An Introduction to Middle English: Grammar, Texts'', 2012 * ''The Old English Canons of Theodore'', 2012 *
An Introductory Grammar of Old English, with an Anthology of Readings
', Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 463/MRTS Texts for Teaching, 8 (Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2014) * ''Studies in the History of the English Language VI: Evidence and Method in Histories of English'', 2015 * ''The Old English Pastoral Care'', 2021

References

External links

R. D. Fulk
at the website of

Website
of R. D. Fulk {{DEFAULTSORT:Fulk, Robert D. 1951 births Living people American medievalists American philologists Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Celtic studies scholars Germanic studies scholars Indiana University Bloomington faculty Linguists of Germanic languages Oakland University alumni Old Norse studies scholars Philosophers from Chicago University of Chicago alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen University of Iowa alumni Wabash College faculty Historians from Illinois

Biography

Selected works

See also

References

External links