Marilyn Butler

Marilyn Speers Butler
Marilyn Speers Butler
Born	Marilyn Speers Evans; 11 February 1937; Coombe, Kingston upon Thames
Died	11 March 2014 (aged 77); Oxford
Nationality	British
Occupation	Literary critic
Spouse(s)	David Butler
Children	3
Parents	Sir Trevor Maldwyn Evans (father); Margaret Speers Gribbin (mother);

Marilyn Speers Butler, Lady Butler, FRSA, FRSL, FBA (née Evans; 11 February 1937 – 11 March 2014) was a British literary critic. She was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge from 1986 to 1993, and Rector of Exeter College, Oxford, from 1993 to 2004.[1] She was the first female head of a formerly all male Oxford or Cambridge college.[1]

Biography

Marilyn Speers Evans was born in Coombe, Kingston upon Thames on 11 February 1937. Her father, Sir Trevor Maldwyn Evans was a journalist and her mother was Margaret Speers "Madge" Evans (née Gribbin). At the age of two, she was evacuated with her mother and elder brother tto New Quay in Wales, where she remained until the end of World War II.[2] She was educated at Wimbledon High School and St Hilda's College, Oxford,[3] graduating with a first class degree in English in 1958. She became a school teacher, but in 1960 joined the BBC as a journalist. On 3 March 1962, she married David Butler; the couple had three sons.[2]

After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2004, Butler's health declined and she died at Headington Care Home, Oxford on 11 March 2014 as a result of a respiratory tract infection.[1][2]

Career

In the early 1960s, Butler left journalism, and returned to academia, completing her doctorate thesis in 1966 in Oxford. She received a research fellowship at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Her published works include Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries and Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. Much of her work was devoted to the career of the Anglo-Irish Romantic novelist Maria Edgeworth, a relative of her husband, including a classic literary biography and an important edition of her collected works for Pickering & Chatto.[2]

In June 2003 she was awarded an honorary degree from the Open University as Doctor of the University.[4] Butler was a Fellow of the British Academy.

Works

Books

Maria Edgeworth: A Literary Biography (1972)
Jane Austen and the War of Ideas (1975)
Romantics, Rebels, and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background, 1760-1830 (1982)
Mapping Mythologies: Countercurrents in Eighteenth-Century British Poetry and Cultural History (2015)

Edited books

Frankenstein: 1818 text (Oxford World's Classics, 1994, rpt 1998, 2008)

References

John Mullan. "Marilyn Butler obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
Leask, Nigel (15 February 2018). "Butler [née Evans], Marilyn Speers (1937–2014)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
British Academy: The British Academy Book Prize - Judging Panel Archived 2007-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
"Honorary graduate cumulative list" (PDF). open.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2018.

External links

Academic offices
Preceded by Richard Oswald Chandler Norman	Rector of Exeter College, Oxford 1993-2004	Succeeded by Frances Cairncross

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[Mullan-1] John Mullan. "Marilyn Butler obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2014.

[ODNB-2] Leask, Nigel (15 February 2018). "Butler [née Evans], Marilyn Speers (1937–2014)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 12 May 2020.

[3] British Academy: The British Academy Book Prize - Judging Panel Archived 2007-12-19 at the Wayback Machine

[Open_University-4] "Honorary graduate cumulative list" (PDF). open.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2018.

Rectors of Exeter College, Oxford
1318–1566	John Parys Stephen de Pippecote John de Sevenaysshe John de Kelly Richard de Pyn Henry de Tiverton William Dobbe William de Palmorna John de Blankeswille Robert de Trethewy John Halle John Wiseburg Robert de Clyste Robert Blakedon John Otery Thomas de Kelly William Franke John Dagenet Robert de Lydeford Martin Lydeford John More Thomas Worth Thomas White Richard Browne Lawrence Stevine William Talkarn William Slade Thomas Dyre Thomas Hyndeman Richard Mark or Marks Helias Stoke Robert Marschel John Gynne John Jakys Richard Penwyne Geoffrey Prentys John Cowling John Schute Thomas Noreys William Penbegyll William Fylham William Grene Walter Trengoff Benedict Brente William Fylham John Alwarde Henry Whitehead John Alwarde Ralph Morewyll Edmund Fitchet John Colyforde William Palmer John Rowe John Rygge John Lyndon John Westlake John Evelyn Richard French Walter Windsor William Mogys William Thomas William Baron William Major Richard Bradleghe William Mylplaysh John Orelle William Meryfeld James Babbe John Smythe Thomas Ruer Richard Panter Richard Roberd John Atwell Thomas Michell John Rugg Gerendus Raffe William Bery Symon Todde John Rigge Thomas Vyvyan William Smythe Philip Bale Edmund Fletcher John Bere John Pekyns John Bery John Dotyn John French Henry Laurence Augustine Crosse William More William Corindon Stephen Marks Philip Randell Robert Newton John Neale
1566-1887	Thomas Glasier Thomas Holland John Prideaux George Hakewill John Conant Joseph Maynard Arthur Bury William Paynter Mathew Hole John Conybeare Joseph Atwell James Edgcumbe Francis Webber Thomas Bray Thomas Stinton Henry Richards John Cole John Collier Jones Joseph Loscombe Richards John Prideaux Lightfoot
1887-	William Jackson Jr Lewis Richard Farnell Robert Ranulph Marett Eric Arthur Barber Sir Kenneth Clinton Wheare Greig Barr The Lord Crowther-Hunt Sir Richard Norman Marilyn Butler Frances Cairncross Sir Rick Trainor