Frank Kermode

Sir John Frank Kermode ( born November 29, 1919 at the Isle of Man; † August 17, 2010 in Cambridge ) was a British literary scholar.

Short Biography

Frank Kermode studied at the University of Liverpool. During World War II he served in the Royal Navy, mostly stationed in Iceland.

He then pursued an academic career: In 1967, he was " Lord Northcliffe " professor of modern English literature at University College London and brought contemporary French critical theory to Britain. In 1974 he became "King Edward VII" Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University. In 1982 he resigned and moved to Columbia University.

The creation of the London Review of Books, goes back to his suggestion. In 1991 he was knighted. He was rather unpretentious, did not use the " Sir " title in his books and gave his autobiography the book title Not Entitled. He wrote almost 200 essay entries for the London Review of Books. A selection of these was published posthumously under the title Bury Place Papers.

Kermode's entire work, as a writer and editor includes more than 50 book publications; in German-speaking countries, he also became known in the early 1970s as an author or editor of several volumes in the dtv series Modern theorists, including monographs on Herbert Marcuse, James Joyce, Marshall McLuhan and Wilhelm Reich.