Michael Edwards (literary scholar)
{{Short description|Anglo-French poet and academic (born 1938)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{ infobox Person
| name = Sir
Michael Edwards
| image = Michael Edwards à l'Académie française 2 2023.jpg
| caption = Sir Michael Edwards
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|04|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = London, United Kingdom
| nationality = British
| education = Kingston Grammar School
| alma_mater = Christ's College, Cambridge
| known for = Member, Académie Française
}}
File:Knights Bachelor Insignia.png
Sir Michael Edwards, OBE (born 29 April 1938) is an Anglo-French poet and academic.
Life
Born in Barnes, SW London,{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/22/academie-francaise-elect-first-british-member | title=Magnifique! Académie française elects first British-born member | work=The Guardian | date=22 February 2013 | accessdate=27 February 2015 | author=Chrisafis, Angelique}} Edwards was educated at Kingston Grammar School and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he read French and Spanish. He wrote his doctoral thesis on Jean Racine, completing it in Paris. He was the longtime professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Warwick until 2002, when he was elected to a professorial chair for the Study of Literary Creation in the English Language at the Collège de France.
Edwards was elected to one of the 40 seats in the Académie Française on 21 February 2013, becoming the first English person to be so honoured.{{cite web|url=http://www.academie-francaise.fr/actualites/election-de-m-michael-edwards-f31|publisher=Académie française|title=élection au fauteuil de M. Jean Dutourd}}{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/9886998/British-poet-becomes-immortal-as-hes-chosen-to-guard-French-language.html|title=British poet becomes 'immortal' as he's chosen to guard French language|date=21 February 2013 }} The Telegraph, 21 February 2013 He had been nominated previously in 2008,Lichfield, J. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/poet-vies-to-be-first-englishman-accepted-by-iacadmie-franccedilaisei-779156.html "Poet vies to be first Englishman accepted by Académie française"], The Independent, 7 February 2008. when he received the second highest number of votes in the fourth and final round of voting (eight votes, behind Michel Schneider who received 10) but since no candidate secured a majority the seat then remained vacant.[http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/0,14-0,39-34226285@7-354,0.html "Double "élection blanche" à l'Académie française"]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Le Monde, 7 February 2008[http://www.academie-francaise.fr/actualites/index.html "Académie française news"], Académie française, Actualités 2008
Honours
Knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for "services to British–French cultural relations",{{London Gazette|issue=60728|supp=y|page=2|date=31 December 2013}}[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/30/new-year-honours-2014-the-full-list www.theguardian.com] Sir Michael has received the following honours:
Bibliography
- La tragédie racinienne, La pensée universelle, 1972
- To Kindle the Starling, Aquila, 1972
- Eliot/Language, Aquila, 1975
- Where, Breakish, Aquila, 1975
- The Ballad of Mobb Conroy, Portree, Aquila, 1977
- Towards a Christian Poetics, London, Macmillan, 1984
- The Magic, Unquiet Body, Portree, Aquila, 1985
- Poetry and Possibility, London, Macmillan, 1988
- Of Making Many Books, London, Macmillan, 1990
- Raymond Mason, London and New York, Thames & Hudson; Paris, Cercle d'Art, 1994
- Éloge de l'attente, Belin, 1996
- De Poetica Christiana, Hermeuneutikai Kutatokozpont, Budapest, 1997
- Beckett ou le don des langues, Espaces 34, 1998
- Leçons de poésie, PUF, 2001
- Avec Yves Bonnefoy, de la poésie,(article) Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, 2001
- Sur un vers d'Hamlet, Inaugural Speech at European Chair, Paris, Collège de France, 2001
- Ombres de lune : réflexions sur la création littéraire, Espaces 34, 2001
- Un monde même et autre, Desclée de Brouwer, janvier 2002
- Rivage mobile, Arfuyen, 2003
- Terre de poésie, Espaces 34, 2003
- Shakespeare et la comédie de l'émerveillement, Desclée de Brouwer, 2003
- Étude de la création littéraire en langue anglaise, "Inaugural Speeches at Collège de France", Paris, Collège de France/Fayard, 2004
- Racine et Shakespeare, PUF, 2004
- Shakespeare et l'œuvre de la tragédie, Belin, 2005
- Le Génie de la poésie anglaise, Le Livre de poche, 2006
- Co-editor, co-translator, Edgar Allan Poe, Histoires, Essais, Poèmes, Paris, Le Livre de Poche, "La Pochothèque", 2006
- De l'émerveillement, Fayard, 2008
- À la racine du feu/At the Root of Fire, selection of poems, bilingual edition, Caractères, coll. Planètes, 2009
- Shakespeare : Le poète au théâtre, Fayard, 2009
- L'Étrangèreté, audioCD, Paris, Gallimard, "à voix haute", 2010
- Trilogie (piécette). Théâtre et poésie, Paris, TNP/Cheyne Éditeur, 2010
- Le bonheur d'être ici, Fayard, février 2011
- Le rire de Molière, De Fallois, octobre 2012
- Paris aubaine, Éditions de Corlevour, novembre 2012
- Reception Speech at Académie française, Paris, De Fallois, 2015
- Bible et poésie, Paris, De Fallois, 2016 ; 2nd edition, Paris,PUF, 2023
- L'Infiniment proche, Clichy, Éditions de Corlevour, 2016
- Dialogues singuliers sur la langue française, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2016
- Molière et Shakespeare, Paris, Anne Rideau Editions, 2016
- At the Brasserie Lipp, Manchester, Carcanet, 2019
- Pour un christianisme intempestif, Paris, De Fallois, 2020
References
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{{Académie française Seat 31}}
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Category:People from Barnes, London
Category:People educated at Kingston Grammar School
Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Category:Academics of the University of Warwick
Category:Academic staff of the Collège de France
Category:Members of the Académie Française
Category:English expatriates in France
Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour
Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
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