Alvin A. Lee (born September 30, 1930), is a Canadian

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

and former academic administrator.

Career

The majority of his academic career—some 39 years—was spent at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

; he served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

of that university from 1980 to 1990. He also served as Chairman of the Council of Ontario Universities. The

McMaster Museum of Art The McMaster Museum of Art (MMA) is a non-profit public art gallery at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The museum is located in the centre of the campus, attached to Mills Memorial Library and close to the McMaster University Student Cen ...

is housed in a building named in his honour because of his work acquiring extensive and valuable art collections for McMaster University. He received honorary doctorates from

Victoria University in the University of Toronto Victoria University is a federated university forming part of the wider University of Toronto, and was founded in 1836. The undergraduate section of the university is Victoria College, informally ''Vic'', after the original name of the univers ...

, and from McMaster University, and was made an honorary professor at

Beijing University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

, the

University of Science and Technology Beijing The University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB; ), formerly known as Beijing Steel and Iron Institute () before 1988, is a national key university in Haidian District, Beijing, China. USTB's metallurgy and materials science programmes are ...

, and

Heilongjiang University University of Heilongjiang () is a national university in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China. The university was established in March 1941, in the revolutionary base area of the Chinese Communist Revolution ...

. Lee holds

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

M.Div. For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

, and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

degrees. His academic interests lie in the fields of

Old English literature Old English literature refers to poetry and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman conquest of England, Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. Th ...

, the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, and

literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mo ...

. Lee served as the General Editor of the 30-volume

Collected Works of Northrop Frye The ''Collected Works of Northrop Frye'' is a uniform scholarly edition of the writings of the 20th-century literary critic Northrop Frye. The series was published by the University of Toronto Press under the general editorship of Alvin A. Lee, ...

, being published by the

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calen ...

(the final volume published in 2012); he has edited two volumes himself, including an annotated edition of Frye's ''The Great Code''. He also wrote the introduction to the

Penguin Modern Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Wester ...

editions of ''The Great Code'' and ''Words with Power''. He is perhaps best known for his work on

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

: ''Gold-Hall and Earth-Dragon: Beowulf as Metaphor'' (University of Toronto Press). He has written articles, reviews and another book on Old English poetry, ''The Guest Hall of Eden: Four Essays on the Design of Old English Poetry'' (

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

), and one on the Canadian poet and playwright,

James Reaney James Crerar Reaney, (September 1, 1926 – June 11, 2008) was a Canadian poet, playwright, librettist, and professor, "whose works transform small-town Ontario life into the realm of dream and symbol." Reaney won Canada's highest literary a ...

. He, along with his wife, Hope Lee, also edited several textbooks for Harcourt Brace: Wish and Nightmare, Circle of Stories: One, Circle of Stories: Two,

The Temple and the Ruin ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

The Garden and the Wilderness ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, and The Peaceable Kingdom.

References

1930 births Living people Canadian university and college chief executives McMaster University faculty {{Canada-academic-bio-stub