Background
Otis, Brooks was born on June 10, 1908 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Edward O. and Marion (Faxon) Otis.
linguist philologist university professor
Otis, Brooks was born on June 10, 1908 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Edward O. and Marion (Faxon) Otis.
Graduate Phillips Exeter Academy, 1925. Bachelor of Arts, Harvard University, 1929, Master of Arts, 1930, Doctor of Philosophy, 1935. Doctorate.H.D., Heidelberg College, 1973, Hobart College, 1977.
Otis taught at Hobart College from 1935 to 1957, then at American University of Beirut for one year before accepting a position at Stanford University as Professor of Classics. In 1970 he moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he followed T. Robert South. Broughton as George L. Paddison Professor of Latin. While at Stanford Otis was one of the founders of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, Italy, in 1965.
Otis was known for some of the most concise and penetrating critical essays written on classical literature.
His first book, published at the age of 55, was Virgil: A Study in Civilized Poetry (1963), which was immediately recognized as a classic. He also wrote Ovid as an Epic Poet (1966) and the posthumous Cosmos and Tragedy: An Essay on the Meaning of Aeschylus (1981), edited with notes and a preface by East. Christian Kopff), which was part of a long manuscript left unfinished at his death, entitled "The Transcendence of Tragedy".
Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences, National Council Religion Higher Education. Member An. Philological Association, Episcopal Guild Scholars.
Married Christine Battle Cheney, May 22, 1937. Children: Brooks Adams, Marion (Mistress Andrew East. Barnes), Franklin Carter Cheney, Irene Denny (Mistress Michael Cosgrove), Paul Hamilton.