Michael Andrew Screech, FBA (2 May 1926 – 1 June 2018) was a cleric and a professor of French literature with special interests in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

, Montaigne and Rabelais. __NOTOC__

Wartime service

In 1943 Screech entered

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

to read French but after a language aptitude test, he was sent to the secret Bedford Japanese School run by Captain

Oswald Tuck Instructor Captain Oswald Thomas Tuck (1 September 1876 – 26 February 1950) was a naval officer and teacher of Japanese. He served as a naval instructor in navigation and Japanese and later translated a confidential history of the Russo-Japanes ...

RN. He was in the 8th course at Bedford (October 1944 to April 1945), and after completing it he was posted to the

Wireless Experimental Centre The Wireless Experimental Centre (WEC) was one of two overseas outposts of Station X, Bletchley Park, the British signals analysis centre during World War II. The other outpost was the Far East Combined Bureau. Codebreakers Wilfred Noyce and Mauri ...

, Delhi, India, which was an outpost of

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...

. After the Japanese surrender, he was posted to Japan and was stationed in Kure and Tottori as part of the

British Commonwealth Occupation Force The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its peak, ...

until 1947.

Academic career

In the years 1961–84 he was the Fielden Professor of French Language and Literature, at the University College, University of London. From 1993 to 2001 he was an extraordinary fellow of

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research a ...

. From 2003 to 2018 he was an emeritus fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. In 1992, he was honoured as a Chevalier in the

French Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. His translation of Montaigne's ''

Essays An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

'' has been widely recognized. His translation of the François Rabelais novel series ''

Gargantua and Pantagruel ''The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel'' (french: La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua ( , ) and his son Pantagruel ...

'' was also described by Barbara C. Bowen as "faithful, lively, and readable ..the best to date; it preserves much of the sheer exuberance of the original, while incorporating essential background information missing from most of its predecessors."

Selected publications

M. A. Screech as author

* ''The Rabelaisian Marriage'' (Edward Arnold, 1958) * ''L'Evangélisme de Rabelais'' (Droz, 1959) * ''

Marot Marot ( Punjabi, ur, ) is a city in Bahawalnagar District in Punjab, Pakistan. This city is situated at the border of India and Pakistan. This city is situated 50 km from Fortabbas, 160 km from Bahawalnagar and 100 km from Bahawal ...

Evangélique'' (Droz, 1967) * ''

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

: Ecstasy and the Praise of Folly'' (Duckworth, 1980) * '' Montaigne and Melancholy'' (Duckworth, 1983) * ''A New Rabelais Bibliography: Editions of Rabelais Before 1626'' (Droz, 1987) * ''Some Renaissance Studies'' (Droz, 1992) * ''

Clément Marot Clément Marot (23 November 1496 – 12 September 1544) was a French Renaissance poet. Biography Youth Marot was born at Cahors, the capital of the province of Quercy, some time during the winter of 1496–1497. His father, Jean Marot (c.& ...

, a Renaissance poet discovers the Gospel'' (E. J. Brill, 1993) * ''Laughter at the Foot of the Cross'' (Allen Lane/Penguin, 1997)

M. A. Screech as editor

* Joachim DuBellay, ''Les Regrets et autres Oeuvres Poétiques: suivis des Antiquitez de Rome ; plus Un songe, ou Vision sur le mesme subject'' (Droz, 1966). Joint editor: J. Joliffe. * François Rabelais, ''Pantagrueline Prognostication pour l'an 1533. Avec les Almanachs pour les ans 1533, 1535 et 1541. La grande et vraye Pronostication nouvelle de 1544'' (Droz, 1975)

Selected translations

* Montaigne: ''

'' (1991) * Rabelais: ''

'' (2006)

References

External links

The Rev Professor Michael Screech obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

, 19 July 2018. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Screech, Michael Andrew 1926 births 2018 deaths Literary critics of French 20th-century English Anglican priests French–English translators Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Recipients of the Legion of Honour 20th-century translators Fellows of the British Academy