Joan Rees (1923 – 2 December 2014) was a British scholar specialising in Elizabethan, Jacobean and 19th century English literature. A professor emerita at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

, she won the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

's Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 1979. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Life

Joan Rees worked in the Civil Service during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. She obtained a master's degree in English from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(1950) and a doctorate from the University of Birmingham in 1970. She married David G. Rees (1924–1983), a scholar of Italian studies. They had two sons. Rees was made Reader at the University of Birmingham in 1974, and Professor in 1980. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1982. After her retirement, she lived near

Presteigne Presteigne (; cy, Llanandras: the church of St. Andrew) is a town and community in Radnorshire, Powys, Wales on the south bank of the River Lugg. Formerly the county town of the historic county of Radnorshire, the town has, in common with ...

, in Wales. In 1964, Rees published her critical biography of the poet and playwright

Samuel Daniel Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) was an English poet, playwright and historian in the late- Elizabethan and early- Jacobean eras. He was an innovator in a wide range of literary genres. His best-known works are the sonnet cycle ''Delia'', the epi ...

(1562–1619), which has subsequently become the standard study. Her biography of Jane Austen, ''Jane Austen: Woman and Writer'' (1976), was based on Austen's letters and avoided the critical controversies surrounding the author. In Rees' view, Austen was influenced by the political and social events of the day, was steeped in the literary tradition, and was driven by a strong (if unstated) Christian morality. Rees won the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 1979 for her ''Shakespeare and the Story''. The work presented a highly original, if controversial, case that Shakespeare's creative process was not of ''careful intellectual construction'', but rather that his imagination evolved in response to the storyline as he wrote. Its presentation of Shakespeare's creativity in opposition to modern models of theme and scheme was applauded. Rees' criticism of contemporary scholarship on

Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

came out in 1991. In ''Sir Philip Sidney and Arcadia'', she demonstrated his rich narrative and humanist views, and took issue with his portrayal as a strict Calvinist by other scholars. Her 1998 biography of

Amelia Edwards Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (7 June 1831 – 15 April 1892), also known as Amelia B. Edwards, was an English novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist. Her literary successes included the ghost story "The Phantom Coach" (1864), the novel ...

, the first on the Egyptologist, was called ''lively and scholarly'', and lauded for its exciting coverage of Edwards' story. In 2006, she was responsible for bringing back

Matilda Betham-Edwards Matilda Betham-Edwards (4 March 1836, in Westerfield, Ipswich – 4 January 1919, in Hastings) was an English novelist, travel writer and Francophile, and a prolific poet, who corresponded with several well-known English male poets of the day. ...

to public notice with the publication of her biography. Rees died in 2014, age 91.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Joan 2014 deaths Rose Mary Crawshay Prize winners Alumni of the University of Birmingham 20th-century biographers British biographers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Academics of the University of Birmingham British academics of English literature 1923 births