Siegbert Salomon Prawer (15 February 1925 – 5 April 2012) was Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Life and works

Prawer was born on 15 February 1925 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany, to Jewish parents Marcus and Eleanora (Cohn) Prawer. Marcus was a lawyer from Poland and Eleanora's father was cantor of Cologne's largest synagogue. His sister Ruth was born in 1927. The family fled the Nazi regime in 1939, emigrating to Britain. Educated at

King Henry VIII School, Coventry King Henry VIII School is a coeducational private day school located in Coventry, England, comprising a senior school (ages 11–18) and associated preparatory school (ages 3–11). The senior school has approximately 574 pupils (of which 167 a ...

, and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

, he was lecturer at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

from 1948 to 1963, Professor of German at

Westfield College, London Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

, from 1964, and became Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature at the

in 1969. He was awarded his PhD by Birmingham University in 1953 (PhD, University of Birmingham, Department of German, 1953, 'A critical analysis of 24 consecutive poems from Heine's Romanzero'). He was a Fellow (then an Honorary Fellow) of

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

, and an Honorary Fellow of

. He had academic interests in

German poetry German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a les ...

and

lieder In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

, Romantic German literature, especially E. T. A. Hoffmann and

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

and also in film, particularly

horror films Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

. His sister was the writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. He made a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in the Merchant-Ivory film ''

Howards End ''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book wa ...

'' (for which his sister wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplay). Prawer died on 5 April 2012 in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England.

Publications

*1952: ''German Lyric Poetry: a critical analysis of selected poems from Klopstock to

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as a significant ...

''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul *1960: '' Mörike und seine Leser''. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett *1960: ''

Heine Heine is both a surname and a given name of German origin. People with that name include: People with the surname * Albert Heine (1867–1949), German actor * Alice Heine (1858–1925), American-born princess of Monaco * Armand Heine (1818–1883) ...

. Buch der Lieder''. London: Edward Arnold *1961: ''Heine the Tragic Satirist: a study of the later poetry 1827-56''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press *1964: ''Penguin Book of Lieder''. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, editor and translator *1969: ''Essays in German Culture, Language and Society''. London: University of London, editor with R. Hinton Thomas, Leonard Wilson Forster, Roy Pascal *1970: ''Heine's Shakespeare: a study on contexts: inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 5 May 1970''. Oxford: Clarendon Press *1970: ''The Romantic Period in Germany: essays by members of the London University Institute of Germanic Studies'', editor *1971: ''Seventeen Modern German Poets''. London: Oxford University Press, editor *1973: '' Comparative Literary Studies: An Introduction''. London: Duckworth *1976: ''Karl Marx and World Literature''. Oxford: Clarendon Press *1980: ''Caligari's Children: the film as tale of terror''. Oxford: Oxford University Press *1983: ''Heine's Jewish comedy: a study of his portraits of Jews and Judaism''. Oxford: Clarendon Press *1984: ''A. N. Stencl, Poet of

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

''. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew studies. 1st Stencl Lecture *1984: ''Coal-Smoke and Englishmen: a study of verbal caricature in the writings of Heinrich Heine''. London: Institute of Germanic Studies, University of London *1986: ''Frankenstein's Island: England and the English in the writings of Heinrich Heine''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press *1992: ''Israel at Vanity Fair: Jews and Judaism in the Writings of

W. M. Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray ( ; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1847–1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

''. Leiden: Brill *1997: ''Breeches and Metaphysics: Thackeray's German discourse''. Oxford: Legenda *2000: ''W. M. Thackeray's European Sketch Books: a study of literary and graphic portraiture''. Oxford, New York: P. Lang *2002: ''

The Blue Angel ''The Blue Angel'' () is a 1930 German musical comedy-drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann, with uncredite ...

''. (BFI Film Classics.) London: British Film Institute *2004: '' Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht''. (BFI Film Classics.) London: British Film Institute *2005: ''Between Two Worlds: the Jewish presence in German and Austrian film, 1919-1933''. (Film Europa: German Cinema in an International Context) New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books *2009: ''A Cultural Citizen of the World:

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

's knowledge and use of British and American writings''. Oxford: Legenda

References

External links

A fond farewell
Archived from the original on 5 December 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Prawer, Siegbert Salomon 1925 births 2012 deaths Academics of the University of Birmingham Academics of Westfield College Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford British film historians 20th-century English Jews Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom People educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Birmingham Taylor Professors of the German Language and Literature German people of Polish-Jewish descent English people of Polish-Jewish descent English philologists English people of German-Jewish descent Deutscher Memorial Prize winners British Germanists