(An Anthology of Chancery English is a fascinating collect...)
An Anthology of Chancery English is a fascinating collection of the orders written to the chancery, beginning in 1417, by Henry V and subsequent others.
(The Complete Poetry and Prose of Geoffrey Chaucer is inte...)
The Complete Poetry and Prose of Geoffrey Chaucer is intended to make Chaucer's texts accessible with a minimum of scholarly interference. The critical, biographical, and linguistic essays are grouped at the end so as not to impede the approach to the text. By doing so, the student is able to enjoy the richness and humor of The Canterbury Tales as well as the beauty of Troylus and Criseyde. This collection will create a deeper appreciation for Chaucer and his genius.
(Language scholars have traditionally agreed that the deve...)
Language scholars have traditionally agreed that the development of the English language was largely unplanned. Fisher challenges this view, demonstrating that the standardization of writing and pronunciation was, and still is, made under the control of political and intellectual forces.
In Forme of Speche is Chaunge: Readings in the History of the English Language
(This collection of readings, originally published by Pren...)
This collection of readings, originally published by Prentice Hall in 1974, illustrates the development of the language by as many styles and levels of discourse as possible. Among the sample selections: King Alfred's Preface to Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care; The Lord's Prayer, Old English to Modern English; Chaucer's General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; The Ancrene Riwle ó English and Anglo-Norman Texts; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Malory's Book of King Arthur; Two Letters by Queen Elizabeth; The King James Bible; Jonathan Edward's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God; and Joel Chandler Harris's Mingo and Nights With Uncle Remus.
(The Complete Poetry and Prose of Geoffrey Chaucer is inte...)
The Complete Poetry and Prose of Geoffrey Chaucer is intended to make Chaucer;s texts accessible with a minimum of scholary interference. The critical, biographical, and linguistic essays are grouped at the end so as not to impede the approach to the text. By doing so, the student is able to enjoy the richness and humor of The Canterbury Tales as well as the beauty of Troylus and Criseyde. This collection will create a deeper appreciation for Chaucer and his genius.
John Hurt Fisher was an American literary scholar, English professor, and medievalist, who specialized in the study of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower.
Background
John Hurt Fisher was born in 1919 in Lexington, Kentucky. His father was Commodore Bascom Fisher, a schoolteacher, and his mother was Franke (née Sheddan) Fisher. Fisher grew up and attended elementary school in Iran, where his father served as an educational missionary for the United Presbyterian Church.
Education
Bachelor of Arts, Maryville College, 1940;
Master of Arts, University Pennsylvania, 1942;
Doctor of Philosophy, University Pennsylvania, 1945;
Doctor of Humane Letters, Loyola University, Chicago, 1970;
Doctor of Letters, Middlebury College, 1970.
Career
He received his Bachelor of Arts from Maryville College in Tennessee (1940), and his Master of Arts Fisher"s first teaching appointment was as an assistant at the University of Pennsylvania (1942-1945). From 1972 to 1988 he was the John C. Hodges Professor of English at the University of Tennessee (1972-1988), and was the head of their English Department from 1976 to 1978. He was a visiting professor at New York University in 1990 and at University of Texas at San Antonio in 1996.
He served as Executive Secretary and President of the Modern Language Association.
As executive secretary he was involved in the visa application process for Carlos Fuentes, who had been denied entrance to the United States., and was instrumental in the foundation of the Association of Departments of English. He was President of the New Chaucer Society, which he co-founded in 1974.
He was a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America and was elected vice-president (1985-1986) and president (1987). He also served as President of the Fellows (1993–1996).
The South Atlantic Modern Language Association has an award in his honor, as does the John Gower Society.
Loyola University Chicago awarded him an Doctor of Humane Letters in 1970, and Middlebury College a Doctor of Letters in that same year. He was made a Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee. Joseph Trahern edited a Festschrift in his honor, Standardizing English: Essays in the History of the English Language in Honor of John Hurt Fisher (University of Tennessee Press, 1989).
Fisher contributed greatly to the study of Chaucer and Gower.
He is one of the critics to argue that Chaucer"s The Wife of Bath"s Tale is based on Gower"s The Tale of Florent. His John Gower, Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer (1964) was described as a "definitive life" and a "landmark work".
Member of the United States Commission to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1963-1969. Board directors Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, 1972-1975, Maryville College, 1972-1974. Fellow Medieval Academy American (vice president 1985-1986, president 1986), Medical Academy Society.Fellows (president 1993-1996).
Member Modern Language Association American (executive secretary 1963-1971, editor PMLA 1963-1971, president 1974), New Chaucer Society (board directors 1978-1990, executive secretary 1981-1989, president 1982-1984), Linguistic Society American, National.Coun. Teachers English, Federation Internationale des Langues et Littératures Modernes, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (American vice president 1972-1978), Phi Beta Kappa (senator-a-large 1977-1983).
Connections
R. Bascom and Franke (Sheddan) F. Married Jane Elizabeth Law, February 21, 1942 (deceased). Children: Janice Carol Fisher Craven, John Craig, Judith Law.