Charles Duff (7 April 1894 – 15 October 1966) was a Northern Irish writer of books on language learning. He also wrote a popular book on hanging and other means of execution.Introduction to ''A Handbook on Hanging'
Retrieved 1 March 2016.
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Early life

Duff was born in

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

, Ireland and attended Portora Royal School (now

Enniskillen Royal Grammar School Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, located in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, is an academically selective, co-educational, non-denominational voluntary grammar school. The school opened its doors on 1 September 2016. Two former ...

), which is located in the town.

Career

Duff served as an officer in the British Merchant Navy in World War I and then in the intelligence division of the Foreign Office and

Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which ...

. He resigned from the Foreign Office in the 1930s, claiming it was solidly supportive of

fascism in Spain Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS) and afterwards the Fal ...

and ready to back a similar system in Britain.

Languages

After he retired, Duff taught linguistics and languages in London and Singapore, while writing travel guides, histories, satires, and a series of text books for the active self-learner. He was fluent in seven languages. His many translations included works by

Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora ...

, Émile Zola,

B. Traven B. Traven (; Bruno Traven in some accounts) was the pen name of a novelist, presumed to be German, whose real name, nationality, date and place of birth and details of biography are all subject to dispute. One certainty about Traven's life is ...

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

, and

Arnold Zweig Arnold Zweig (10 November 1887 – 26 November 1968) was a German writer, pacifist and socialist. He is best known for his six-part cycle on World War I. Life and work Zweig was born in Glogau, Prussian Silesia (now Głogów, Poland), the son ...

. Duff's best known book is ''A Handbook of Hanging''. This also covers electrocution, decapitations, gassings, innocent men executed and botched executions. It has been reissued intermittently in the UK, for instance in 1948, 1953, 1954, 1974, etc., and in the United States in 1999, with an introduction by

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

. Duff's book ''James Joyce and the Plain Reader'' (1932) is an introduction James Joyce's major works that seeks to guide "the plain reader" through the author's oeuvre. Duff both situates Joyce within a long literary tradition and emphasises his originality. In describing Joyce, Duff draws on

ethnic stereotypes An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nationa ...

, describing Irish people as motivated by "a restless and often fantastic imagination". Joyce himself owned a copy of Duff's book, and the literary scholar Jean-Michel Rabaté argues that, when Joyce came to complete ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction which combines a bod ...

'' (1939), he was pleased with Duff's book and incorporated elements of Duff's thought into his work, including the vindication of the rights of the "plain reader". George Orwell, in a 1933 letter to Eleanor Jacques, described ''James Joyce and the Plain Reader'' as "weak trash, which would give the impression that J ycewas a writer on the ughWalpole— . B.Priestley level."

Works

Notes

External links

Information on Duff at LanguageHat.com

Library Thing Web site, page on Charles Duff books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duff, Charles English non-fiction writers Linguists from the United Kingdom 1894 births 1966 deaths English male non-fiction writers 20th-century linguists James Joyce scholars