J. A. W. Bennett

Jack Arthur Walter Bennett ( born 1911 in Auckland, New Zealand, † 1981 in Los Angeles, California ) was a literary critic, scholar and professor of English at the University of Cambridge. His writings he wrote as JAW Bennett.

Life and work

Bennett attended from 1925 to 1928 the " Mount Albert Grammar School " in Auckland. In the years 1927/28, he wrote there already several award-winning essays and his poem " Envoi " of 1928 was set to music the following year. He studied at the university there, where he specialized in the study of the English language. He completed his studies with honors and received a scholarship to Merton College thereby in Oxford. This he graduated as Dr. Phil.

During the Second World War, Bennett worked for the "British Information Service " in New York. After his return he became Fellow and Tutor in 1947, first at Magdalen College, which is one of the older colleges of Oxford University. Here he was a colleague of the author and professor CS Lewis, with whom he occasionally met in the union of the " Inklings ." In 1963, after the death of Lewis, he moved to Cambridge. From 1964 to 1978 he was a Fellow and Professor of Medieval English at Magdalene College, the university there.

Bennett made ​​his name as a scholar of Middle English literature. In addition, he was from 1956 to 1980 editor of the magazine "Medium Aevum ". Among his varied works include work on "Middle English Literature " and " Oxford History of English Literature ," which were published in 1986 after his death.

Bennett died probably at the beginning of the year 1981. Was read for him a funeral Mass in Cambridge in February 1981 and in May launched Emrys Jones, Fellow of Magdalen College, a funeral service in the local chapel in Oxford.

Honors

  • Honors in English and history as " Lissie Rathbone Scholar ", a price for the Humanities.
  • In 1971 he was appointed a Fellow of the British Academy.
  • 1976 Bennett was elected "Foreign Honorary Member" of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
  • In 2007 he was in the Hall of Distinction of Mount Albert Grammar School with the words " Professor jaw Bennett: Oxford scholar and writer of the school song" recorded.

Writings (selection )

  • J.A.W. Bennett, CS Lewis: The human medievalist: an inaugural lecture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1965, OCLC 1,483,551th
  • J.A.W. Bennett: Early Middle English verse and prose. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1968, ISBN 0-198-11493-1.
  • J.A.W. Bennett: Poetry of the Passion: studies in twelve centuries of English verse. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1982, ISBN 0-198-12804-5.
  • J.A.W. Bennett, Douglas Gray: Middle English literature. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1986, ISBN 0-198-12214-4.
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