Philip Douglas Beidler (October 29, 1944 – April 20, 2022)Ancestry.com. ''Virginia, U.S., Divorce Records, 1918-2014'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. was a professor of

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...

at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

, and the author and editor of books on Alabama literature, the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, and other topics. For his work on Vietnam writers, he has been called "one of the founding fathers of Vietnam War studies."

Biography

Beidler, who was of German and Quaker descent, was born October 29, 1944, in Adams, Pennsylvania. He did his undergraduate studies at

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

. During 1969 and 1970, he served as a lieutenant in an armored cavalry platoon in Vietnam. He received master's and doctoral degrees in English from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

the latter in 1974. He became a professor at the University of Alabama in the mid-1970s, served as director of graduate studies and as assistant dean, and was awarded the 1999 Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award. He was eventually named the Margaret and William Going Professor of English and, at the time of his death, he was a professor emeritus of English at the University of Alabama. Beidler suffered from

Parkinson's Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

during the last years of his life. He died April 20, 2022.

Selected publications

Vietnam literature

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Alabama literature

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References

External links

Philip Beidler, professor emeritus, the University of Alabama English DepartmentAn interview with Beidler
on

Alabama Public Television Alabama Public Television (APT) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Alabama. It is operated by the Alabama Educational Television Commission (AETC), an agency of the Alabama state government which ho ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beidler, Philip 1944 births 2022 deaths United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War American people of German descent American male writers Davidson College alumni Military personnel from Pennsylvania People from Armstrong County, Pennsylvania University of Alabama faculty University of Virginia alumni Writers from Pennsylvania