William Merritt Sale Jr. (16 February 1899, Louisville, Kentucky — 7 January 1981, Ithaca, N. Y.) was a professor of English at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

,"William M. Sale Jr., 81; An Authority on English." January 9, 1981.
''The New York Times''. Retrieved 19 December 2019. considered an authority on 18th-century

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

. After studying at Yale, where

Chauncey Brewster Tinker Chauncey Brewster Tinker (October 22, 1876 – March 10, 1963) was a scholar of English Literature and Sterling Professor at Yale University. Early life Tinker was born on October 22, 1876, in Auburn, Maine to Anson Phelps Tinker, a Yale graduat ...

directed his thesis, Sale went on to join the faculty at Cornell in 1936. Named Goldwin Smith Professor of English in 1959, he was named

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

upon retirement in 1968.Caputi, Anthony ''et al.'
"Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement."
Cornell University. Retrieved 19 December 2019. From 1944 to 1960 Sale was the chief reader in English composition for the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB). His students at Cornell included Louis Auchincloss,

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

, Harold Bloom, Whitney Balliett, and

Helen Vendler Helen Hennessy Vendler (born April 30, 1933) is an American literary critic and is Porter University Professor Emerita at Harvard University. Life and career Helen Hennessy Vendler was born on April 30, 1933, in Boston, Massachusetts, to George ...

. Sale had three sons: William M. 3d of St. Louis, Roger of Seattle and Kirkpatrick of New York.

Publications

* 1936: ''Samuel Richardson: A Bibliographical Record'' * 1950: ''Samuel Richardson, Master Printer'' * 1972: '' Wuthering Heights'' by

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

; William Sale (editor). New York: Norton Critical EditionsSteiner, Wendy
''The Sign in Music and Literature''
"Bibliography", p. 233. University of Texas Press, 2014. . At Google Books. Retrieved 19 December 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sale, William Cornell University faculty 1899 births 1981 deaths