William Wallace Robson
Prof William Wallace Robson FRSE FRSA (20 June 1923–31 July 1993) was a 20th-century British literary critic and scholar.
Life
He was born in Plymouth on 20 June 1923 the son of Kathleen Ryan and her husband, William Robson, a barrister. He was educated at Leeds Modern School.
He studied literature at the University of Oxford, graduating with a BA. In 1946 he began lecturing in English literature, and in 1948 was elected a Fellow and gained an MA. In the early 1950s he founded the Oxford journal Essays in Criticism with F. W. Bateson.
In 1970 he received a chair in English at the University of Sussex, and in 1972 moved to a similar position at the University of Edinburgh.
In 1988 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Norman Jeffares, Donald Low, Archie Turnbull, and John McIntyre.[1]
He retired in 1990 and died in Edinburgh on 31 July 1993.[2]
Family
In 1962 he married Anne-Varna Moses, and together they had two sons.
Publications
- Critical Essays (1966)
- The Signs Among Us (1968) - poetry
- Modern English Literature (1970)
- The Definition of Literature (1982)
- A Prologue to English Literature (1986)
- Critical Enquiries (1993)
- The Oxford History of English Literature 1890-1950 (1993)
- The Oxford Book of Edwardian Verse (1993)
References
- Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
- http://rse.mtcserver6.com/cms/files/fellows/obits_alpha/robson_william.pdf