Derek Albert Pearsall (1931–2021) was an English medievalist and Chaucerian who wrote and published widely on Chaucer, Langland, Gower, manuscript studies, and medieval history and culture. [1]
He was the co-director, Emeritus, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York; Gurney Professor of English Literature, Emeritus, Harvard University.[2][3] In 1998 he delivered the British Academy's Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture.[4]
Early and personal life
editPearsall was born in Birmingham to parents Elsie (née Rawlins) and Joseph, a shop fitter toolmaker, and attended King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys. The first in his family to go to university,[5] Pearsall earned a B.A. in 1951 and an M.A. in 1952 from the University of Birmingham (UK).[3]
In 1952 in King's Lynn, Pearsall married Rosemary Elvidge (d. 2004), whom he had met as a student. They had four children.[5] The couple considered York, where they returned to upon retirement and had a permanent house in Clifton, to be their home.[6]
References
edit- ^ Gustafson, Kevin. “New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall.” Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History 18 (2015).
- ^ "People". Retrieved 13 November 2018.
- ^ a b Aers, David, ed. (2000). "Preface by Derek Brewer". Medieval Literature and Historical Inquiry: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. pp. vii–ix. ISBN 9780859915557.
- ^ "Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lectures". The British Academy. text
- ^ a b Waldron, Ronald (24 December 2021). "Derek Pearsall obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "In Remembrance of Derek Pearsall". University of York. 17 October 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
External links
edit
- Complete Bibliography. A complete up-to-date bibliography of Derek Pearsall's published work.
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