Raymond Wilson Chambers

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Raymond Wilson Chambers (born November 12, 1874 in Staxton , North Yorkshire , † April 23, 1942 in Swansea ) was a British writer , literary scholar , university professor and librarian who dealt with medieval texts such as Beowulf or Widsith and in particular with life of Thomas More employed.

Life

Chambers was born in Yorkshire and attended the Grocers' Company's School before moving to University College London at the age of 17 , where he was taught literary studies and classical poetry. He finished his studies in 1894 with a bachelor's degree. He then took on a job as a librarian for five years before returning to London in 1899 to college. In 1902 he made his master's degree there and in 1904 became an assistant professor. He also took a job there in the library of the college.

Between 1900 and 1922 he published a number of works that made him an important expert in the field of Old English literature. These included Widsith: A Study in Old English Heroic Legend , which appeared in 1912, and Beowulf: An Introduction , which he published in 1921. From 1926 he also dealt with William Shakespeare and Thomas More. In 1935 he published a study entitled Thomas More . For this he was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in the same year . This prize is awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh and is one of the most important literary prizes in the United Kingdom . The scientific work on Shakespeare and More was an extension of his research focus, since he had previously only dealt with Old English literature. In 1939 he published a collection of essays , which also included works by Alfred Edward Housman .

In 1927 he became a member ( fellow ) of the British Academy . Chambers was also President of the Philological Society from 1933 and Honorary Director of the Early English Text Society from 1938 to 1942. In 1937 he was elected a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Friendship with Tolkien

Chambers had been friends with the philologist and linguist J. RR Tolkien since the early 1920s . In 1922 Tolkien had received the order to write the annual report Philology: General Works for the magazine The year's work in English studies . For this purpose, Chambers provided him with a reprint of his lecture Concerning certain great teachers of the English language , which he had given when he began his position as a quain professor (university title at University College named after Richard Quain). The report appeared in Issue IV No. 1 of 1924. Both corresponded regularly in the following years, as can be seen from the letters received in Tolkien's estate. For example, Chambers received an as yet unfinished manuscript for a poem about the Arthurian legend entitled The Fall of Arthur for review. A letter in reply dated December 9, 1934, showed that Chambers was so enthusiastic about it that he wrote to him that Tolkien should definitely complete the work.

How deep their friendship was shows a lavishly decorated humorous poem with the title DOWORST that Tolkien wrote for Chambers for Christmas in 1933 , which had a hard cover as a cover and was packed in a specially made box. It is related to the three rules presented in Piers Plowman . to get to God. ("Do well, do better, do best")

Chambers also presumably received one of the first copies of The Hobbit , since it was listed among others on Tolkien's list, on which he had noted friends, relatives and acquaintances, to whom he wanted to send one of the books completed in 1937.

Fonts (selection)

  • The Authorship of "Piers Plowman." University Press, Cambridge 1910, OCLC 774486238 (From the Modern Language Review, etc.).
  • Beowulf. An introduction to the study of the poem, with a discussion of the stories of Offa and Finn . University Press, Cambridge 1921, OCLC 811584387 (With a bibliography.).
  • Widsith. A study in old English heroic legend . Russell & Russell, New York 1965, OCLC 350835 .

To Thomas More

  • Thomas More, William Rastell, W. E Campbell, A. W Reed, Raymond Wilson Chambers, Walter Alfred George Doyle-Davidson: The English works of Sir Thomas More… 2 volumes. Eyre and Spottiswoode / Lincoln Mac Veagh, London / New York 1931, OCLC 2641853 .
  • On the continuity of English prose from Alfred to More and his school . H. Milford, Oxford University Press, London 1932, OCLC 2668389 .
  • Thomas More . Jonathan Cape, London / Toronto 1935, OCLC 249446914 .
    • Thomas More: a statesman of Henry the Eighth . J. Kösel, Munich / Kempten 1946, OCLC 643554605 (authorized transfer by Wolfgang Rüttenauer of the original edition published by Jonathan Cape, London in 1935).
  • The place of St Thomas More in English literature and history. Being a revision of a lecture delivered to the Thomas More Society . Haskell House, New York 1964, OCLC 230149130 .

literature

  • PE Hallett: Thomas More by RW Chambers In: The Review of English Studies. Volume 11, No. 44, October 1935, pp. 472-474.
  • Charles Jasper Sisson: Raymond Wilson Chambers, 1874–1942 . G. Cumberlege, London 1944, OCLC 35144080 (biography).
  • Charles Jasper Sisson: Raymond Wilson Chambers 1874–1942 . In: Michael Lapidge, British Academy (Ed.): Interpreters of Early Medieval Britain . Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2002, ISBN 0-19-726277-5 , pp. 221-233 ( books.google.de ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information on Raymond Wilson Chambers in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France , accessed on July 7, 2015.
  2. ^ A b Douglas A. Anderson: RW Chambers and The Hobbit . In: Tolkien Studies . tape 3 , no. 1 , 2006, ISSN  1547-3163 , p. 137–147 , doi : 10.1353 / tks.2006.0005 ( academia.edu ).
  3. ^ Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize | University of Edinburgh. In: ed.ac.uk. Retrieved July 7, 2015 .
  4. ^ Raymond Wilson Chambers Biography. In: jrank.org. Retrieved July 7, 2015 .
  5. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed May 13, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Chambers Papers on archives.ucl.ac.uk (short biography)
  7. ^ Member entry by Raymond Wilson Chambers (with a link to an obituary) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on January 13, 2017.
  8. ↑ JRR Tolkien: Philology: General Works (1923) . In: English Association (Ed.): The year's work in English studies . Oxford University Press, ISSN  0084-4144 , doi : 10.1093 / ywes / IV.1.20 (1924/1925).
  9. ^ Raymond Wilson Chambers: Concerning certain great teachers of the English language . E. Arnold, London 1923, OCLC 26695159 (An inaugural lecture delivered in University college, London).
  10. ↑ Table of Contents - 1924, IV (1) on ywes.oxfordjournals.org.
  11. ↑ JRR Tolkien: King Arthur's Fall . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-608-10793-7 ( books.google.de ).
  12. ↑ Fantasy that! a Tolkien original. (PDF) adm.monash.edu.au.
  13. ↑ Tolkien, JRR - The Hobbit. London: George Allan & Unwin LTD, 1937. Sotheby's, accessed July 7, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Chambers, Raymond Wilson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chambers, RW
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British writer, university professor and librarian
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Staxton
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1942
Place of death Swansea