Paul Geoffrey Edwards (31 July 1926 – 10 May 1992) was a wide-ranging literary scholar at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, appreciated for his "adventurous and unorthodox teaching".'In Memoriam: Paul Edwards', ''ALA Bulletin'', Vol. 35, p. 22. As a scholar of black history 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 ...

, Edwards's work on

Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano (; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (), was a writer and abolitionist from, according to his memoir, the Eboe (Igbo) region of the Kingdom of Benin (today southern Nigeria). Enslaved as ...

"helped to establish Equiano as a key figure in African and black literature in general." Edwards also wrote on

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

, and collaborated with

Hermann Pálsson Hermann Pálsson (26 May 1921 – 11 August 2002) was an Icelandic language scholar and translator, "one of the most distinguished scholars of Icelandic studies of his generation". Often working in collaboration with others such as Magnus Magnus ...

in translations of the

Icelandic sagas The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...

and other books on the literature of

medieval Iceland The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from the east, particularly Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest ...

Life

Paul Edwards, from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, studied English at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

and then

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and Icelandic at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He was the Editor of Palatinate during his time at Durham, working alongside

Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...

. After completing his education he worked in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

for nine years, teaching literature in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. The demand of his African students for

African literature African literature is literature from Africa, either oral ("orature") or written in African and Afro-Asiatic languages. Examples of pre-colonial African literature can be traced back to at least the fourth century AD. The best-known is the ''Keb ...

propelled his encounter with Equiano. Edwards joined the staff of Edinburgh University in 1963.''University of Edinburgh Journal'', Vol. 35 (1992), p.262 Encouraged by

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe (; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. His first novel and ''magnum opus'', ''Things Fall Apart'' (1958), occupies ...

, and helped by the historian of

Christopher Fyfe Christopher Fyfe (9 November 1920 – 26 August 2008) was a Scottish historian most noted for his work on Sierra Leone in West Africa. Biography Christopher Hamilton Fyfe was born in England in 1920 to a family of Scottish ancestry. His father ...

, in 1967 Edwards published an abridged edition of Equiano's autobiographical ''

Narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

'' in Heinemann's

African Writers Series The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann (publisher), Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003. The series has provided an int ...

, under the title ''Equiano's Travels''. He subsequently published a facsimile version of the ''Narrative'', and another edited version under the title ''The Life of Olaudah Equiano''. At the University of Edinburgh Edwards introduced a final year Honours option on "Caribbean and West African Literature", which he taught with

Kenneth Ramchand Kenneth Ramchand (born 1939) is a Trinidad and Tobago academic and writer, who is widely respected as "arguably the most prominent living critic of Caribbean fiction". He has written extensively on many West Indian authors, including V. S. Naipau ...

. He became Reader in English Literature, and was subsequently awarded a personal chair as professor of English and African Literature at Edinburgh. He died 10 May 1992. In March 1994 a conference entitled "Africans and Caribbeans in Britain: Writing, History, and Society" was held in his memory at Edinburgh's Centre of African Studies. A collection of essays in his memory appeared in 1998.

Paul Hullah Paul William Hullah is an English writer who has published several volumes of poetry, short stories, and literary criticism, as well as a series of literature-based EFL textbooks for university students in Japan and articles in several academic ...

, ed., ''Romanticism and Wild Places: Essays In Memory of Paul Edwards'', Edinburgh: Quadriga, 1998.

Works

* (ed.) ''West African Narrative: an anthology for schools'', 1963. * (ed.) ''Modern African Narrative: an anthology'', 1966. * (ed.) ''Through African Eyes'', Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1966 * (ed.) ''Equiano's Travels: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African'' by

. London: Heinemann, 1967.

10. * (ed.) ''A Ballad Book for Africa'', London: Faber, 1968. * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''Gautrek's Saga, and other medieval tales'', London:

University of London Press The University of London Press (also known as UoL Press) is a publishing house that is part of the University of London. Based in the School of Advanced Study at Senate House, it "seeks to facilitate collaborative, inclusive, open access interch ...

, 1968. * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''Arrow-Odd: a medieval novel'', New York: New York University Press, 1970 * (with Hermann Pálsson) ''Legendary Fiction in Medieval Iceland'', Reykjavík:

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...

, 1970 * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''Hrolf Gautreksson, a Viking romance'', Toronto:

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 ...

, 1972 * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''The Book of Settlements; Landnámabók''. Winnipeg:

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

. Harmondworth:

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Hogarth Press The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and now ...

, 1978. * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''Göngu-Hrólfs Saga'', Edinburgh:

Canongate Books Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner ''Life of Pi''. Canongate was n ...

, 1980. * ''Black Personalities in the Era of the Slave Trade'', 1983. * (with

David Dabydeen David Dabydeen (born 9 December 1955) is a Guyanese-born broadcaster, novelist, poet and academic. He was formerly Guyana's Ambassador to UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation) from 1997 to 2010 and the youngest Memb ...

) "Black writers of the 18th and 19th centuries", in David Dabydeen (ed.), ''The Black Presence in English Literature'', 1985, pp. 50–67. * "Three West African Writers of the 1780s", in Charles T. Davis and

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

, eds, ''The Slave's Narrative'', New York:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1985. * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''Seven Viking Romances'', Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985. * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''Knytlinga Saga: the history of the kings of Denmark'', Odense:

Odense University Press University Press of Southern Denmark () is Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , ...

, 1986. * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''Magnus' Saga: the life of St Magnus, Earl of Orkney, 1075–1116'', Oxford: Perpetua, 1987. * (tr. with Hermann Pálsson) ''Vikings in Russia: Yngvar's saga and Eymund's saga'', Edinburgh:

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

, 1989. * (ed. with David Dabydeen) ''Black Writers in Britain: 1760–1830'', 1991. * (ed. with Polly Rewt) ''The letters of Ignatius Sancho'' by

Ignatius Sancho Charles Ignatius Sancho ( – 14 December 1780) was a British abolitionist, writer and composer. Born on a slave ship in the Atlantic, Sancho was sold into slavery in the Spanish colony of New Granada. After his parents died, Sancho's owner t ...

, Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Paul 1926 births 1992 deaths British literary historians Icelandic–English translators Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham 20th-century translators