Georg Bernhard Tennyson
{{Short description|American scholar}}
Georg Bernhard Tennyson (July 13, 1930 – May 19, 2007) was an American scholar. He was emeritus professor of English at UCLA, a longtime editor of the journal Nineteenth-Century Literature, and a prominent scholar of Thomas Carlyle and Owen Barfield.
Biography
Georg Bernhard Tennyson was born on July 13, 1930, in Washington, D.C. His mother Emily Inez Zimmerli worked in the United States Senate, while his father, for whom he was named, owned the Tennyson Tire Company.
Tennyson earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from George Washington University. In 1954, he joined the United States Army, was trained in cryptography, and deployed to a base near Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He served in the National Security Agency as a German translator and code breaker. Upon discharge, he earned MA and PhD degrees from Princeton University and declined an offer to join the Princeton faculty. Instead, he joined the University of North Carolina for two years before joining UCLA in 1964, where he remained until 1994. Tennyson met Owen Barfield in 1968 and was a friend and correspondent until Barfield's death in 1997, whereupon he served as co-executor of Barfield's literary estate.{{Cite web |last1=Hipolito |first1=Terry |last2=Hipolito |first2=Jane |title=Georg Bernhard Tennyson (1930-2007) |url=http://barfieldsociety.org/TennysonObit.htm |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=barfieldsociety.org}}
Tennyson died on May 19, 2007, at Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, following a fire at his home. He was preceded by his wife and survived by two children, four grandchildren, and his sister.{{Cite web |title=Georg Bernhard Tennyson Obituary (2007) Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/georg-tennyson-obituary?id=24864210 |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=Legacy.com}}
Career
Tennyson held a certificate in Shakespeare Studies from the Shakespeare Institute and a certificate in German studies from the University of Freiburg. He was a Fellow of the British Council, the Fulbright Program, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation,{{Cite web |title=Georg Bernhard Tennyson |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/georg-bernhard-tennyson/ |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |language=en-US}} and a Summer Seminar Director for the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was a member of various scholarly organizations, including The Carlyle Society of Edinburgh, the C. S. Lewis Society of California, and the Modern Language Association.
His monograph "Sartor" Called "Resartus" (1965) has been called "the best book ever written on Thomas Carlyle".{{Cite journal |last=Tarr |first=Rodger L. |date=2007 |title=G. B. Tennyson: A Personal Reminiscence |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26592980 |journal=Carlyle Studies Annual |issue=23 |pages=3–6 |jstor=26592980 |issn=1074-2670}} His essay "Owen Barfield and the Rebirth of Meaning" (1969) made him "a principal founder" of Barfield scholarship.
Works
- {{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=G. B. |url=https://archive.org/details/sartorcalledresa0000tenn/mode/2up |title=Sartor Called Resartus: The Genesis, Structure, and Style of Thomas Carlyle's First Major Work |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1965 |location=Princeton, New Jersey |lccn=65017162 |url-access=registration}}
- {{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=G. B. |url=https://archive.org/details/victorianprose00davi/mode/2up |title=Victorian Prose: A Guide to Research |publisher=The Modern Language Association of America |year=1973 |isbn= 9780873522502|editor-last=DeLaura |editor-first=David J. |location=New York |pages=31–112 |chapter=The Carlyles |lccn= |url-access=registration}}
- {{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=G. B. |url=https://archive.org/details/carlylepastprese0000unse/mode/2up |title=Carlyle Past and Present: A Collection of New Essays |publisher=Vision Press |year=1976 |isbn= 9780854783731|editor-last=Fielding |editor-first=K. J. |pages=27–50 |chapter=Carlyle Today |editor2-last=Tarr |editor2-first=Rodger L. |url-access=registration}}
- {{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=G. B. |title=Evolution of Consciousness: Studies in Polarity |year=1976 |editor-last=Sugerman |editor-first=Shirley |chapter=Etymology and Meaning}}
- {{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=G. B. |title=Evolution of Consciousness: Studies in Polarity |year=1976 |editor-last=Sugerman |editor-first=Shirley |chapter=A Bibliography of the Works of Owen Barfield}}
- {{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=G. B. |url=https://archive.org/details/carlylehiscontem00rd19/mode/2up |title=Carlyle and His Contemporaries: Essays in Honor of Charles Richard Sanders |publisher=Duke University Press |year=1976 |isbn= 9780822303404|editor-last=Clubbe |editor-first=John |location=Durham, North Carolina |pages=298–316 |chapter=Parody as Style: Carlyle and His Parodists |url-access=registration}}
- {{Cite book |last=Tennyson |first=G. B. |url=https://archive.org/details/victoriandevotio0000tenn |title=Victorian Devotional Poetry: The Tractarian Mode |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1981 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |isbn=9780674935860 |url-access=registration}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/carlylereadersel00carl |title=A Carlyle Reader |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |editor-last=Tennyson |editor-first=G. B. |location=Cambridge |url-access=registration}}
- {{Cite book |title=Owen Barfield on C. S. Lewis |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |year=1989 |editor-last=Tennyson |editor-first=G. B. |location=Middletown, CT}}
- {{Cite book |title=A Barfield Reader: Selections from the Writings of Owen Barfield |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |year=1999 |editor-last=Tennyson |editor-first=G. B.}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://owenbarfield.org/BARFIELD/Encyclopedia_Barfieldiana/People/Tennyson.html Entry at Encyclopedia Barfieldiana]
- [https://archives.wheaton.edu/repositories/3/resources/481 G. B. Tennyson Papers] at the Archives of Wheaton College
{{Authority control}}
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Category:George Washington University alumni
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:American literary critics
Category:American non-fiction writers