Siegbert Salomon Prawer (15 February 1925 – 5 April 2012) was

Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature The position of Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature (named after the architect Robert Taylor (architect), Robert Taylor, whose bequest funded the Taylor Institution) is one of the permanent chairs at the University of Oxford. ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Life and works

Prawer was born on 15 February 1925 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany, to Jewish parents Marcus and Eleanora (Cohn) Prawer. Marcus was a lawyer from Poland and Eleanora's father was cantor of Cologne's largest synagogue. His sister Ruth was born in 1927. The family fled the Nazi regime in 1939, emigrating to Britain. Educated at

King Henry VIII School, Coventry King Henry VIII School is a coeducational independent day school located in Coventry, England, comprising a senior school (ages 11–18) and associated preparatory school (ages 3–11). The senior school has approximately 800 pupils (120 in eac ...

, and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, he was lecturer at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

from 1948 to 1963, Professor of German at

Westfield College, London Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

, from 1964, and became

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1969. He was awarded his PhD by Birmingham University in 1953 (PhD, University of Birmingham, Department of German, 1953, 'A critical analysis of 24 consecutive poems from Heine's Romanzero'). He was a Fellow (then an Honorary Fellow) of

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, and an Honorary Fellow of

. He had academic interests in

German poetry German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a less ...

and

lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...

, Romantic German literature, especially E. T. A. Hoffmann and

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

and also in film, particularly

horror films Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...

. His sister was the writer

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (; 7 May 19273 April 2013) was a British author and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. In 1951, Jhabvala ma ...

. He made a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

in the Merchant-Ivory film ''

Howards End ''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book was ...

'' (for which his sister wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplay). Prawer died on 5 April 2012 in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England.

Publications

*1952: ''German Lyric Poetry: a critical analysis of selected poems from

Klopstock Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (; 2 July 1724 – 14 March 1803) was a German poet. His best known work is the epic poem ''Der Messias'' ("The Messiah"). One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outsid ...

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul *1960: '' Mörike und seine Leser''. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett *1960: ''

Heine Heine is both a surname and a given name of German origin. People with that name include: People with the surname * Albert Heine (1867–1949), German actor * Alice Heine (1858–1925), American-born princess of Monaco * Armand Heine (1818–1883) ...

. Buch der Lieder''. London: Edward Arnold *1961: ''Heine the Tragic Satirist: a study of the later poetry 1827-56''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press *1964: ''Penguin Book of Lieder''. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, editor and translator *1969: ''Essays in German Culture, Language and Society''. London: University of London, editor with R. Hinton Thomas,

Leonard Wilson Forster Leonard Wilson Forster (30 March 1913 – 18 April 1997) was Professor of German at University College London, and Schröder Professor of German at the University of Cambridge. Life and work Born in London, Forster was godchild (and son) of ...

, Roy Pascal *1970: ''Heine's Shakespeare: a study on contexts: inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 5 May 1970''. Oxford: Clarendon Press *1970: ''The Romantic Period in Germany: essays by members of the London University Institute of Germanic Studies'', editor *1971: ''Seventeen Modern German Poets''. London: Oxford University Press, editor *1973: '' Comparative Literary Studies: An Introduction''. London: Duckworth *1976: ''Karl Marx and World Literature''. Oxford: Clarendon Press *1980: ''Caligari's Children: the film as tale of terror''. Oxford: Oxford University Press *1983: ''Heine's Jewish comedy: a study of his portraits of Jews and Judaism''. Oxford: Clarendon Press *1984: ''A. N. Stencl, Poet of

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

''. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew studies. 1st Stencl Lecture *1984: ''Coal-Smoke and Englishmen: a study of verbal caricature in the writings of Heinrich Heine''. London: Institute of Germanic Studies, University of London *1986: ''Frankenstein's Island: England and the English in the writings of Heinrich Heine''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press *1992: ''Israel at Vanity Fair: Jews and Judaism in the Writings of

W. M. Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and ...

''. Leiden: Brill *1997: ''Breeches and Metaphysics:

Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

's German discourse''. Oxford: Legenda *2000: ''W. M. Thackeray's European Sketch Books: a study of literary and graphic portraiture''. Oxford, New York: P. Lang *2002: ''

The Blue Angel ''The Blue Angel'' (german: Der blaue Engel) is a 1930 German musical comedy-drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg, and starring Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Lie ...

''. (BFI Film Classics.) London: British Film Institute *2004: '' Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht''. (BFI Film Classics.) London: British Film Institute *2005: ''Between Two Worlds: the Jewish presence in German and Austrian film, 1919-1933''. (Film Europa: German Cinema in an International Context) New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books *2009: ''A Cultural Citizen of the World:

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

's knowledge and use of British and American writings''. Oxford: Legenda

References

External links

A fond farewell
Archived from the original on 5 December 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Prawer, Siegbert Salomon 1925 births 2012 deaths Academics of the University of Birmingham Academics of Westfield College Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford British film historians English Jews Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom People educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Birmingham Taylor Professors of the German Language and Literature German emigrants to England German people of Polish-Jewish descent English people of Polish-Jewish descent English philologists English people of German-Jewish descent Deutscher Memorial Prize winners