Robert Kay Gordon (1887–1973) was an English scholar of medieval and early modern English literature and administrator at the
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...
in Canada.
In 1913, having graduated from the Universities of
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
and
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, Gordon became administrator at the University of Alberta. In 1936 he was appointed as head of the Department of English and became a fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...
the same year. Between 1943 and 1945, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science. He retired from the university in 1950. His colleagues included F. M. Salter, E. Sonet and D. E. Cameron.
Gordon is quoted extensively in
The Book of Imaginary Beings by
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
. In the entry describing the Fastitocalon, Borges includes an extended quote from R.K. Gordon's Anglo Saxon Bestiary.
Selected works
Gordon published widely in his field of English literature, displaying a wide range of interest, from Old English poetry and
Chaucer to the Scottish novelists Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
and
John Galt.
*1918 (ed. with E. K. Broadus). ''English Prose from Bacon to Hardy''. London. Anthology
available from the Internet Archive*1920. ''John Galt''. Toronto
Available from the Internet Archive*1922. ''The Song of
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
''. Translation into English prose. New York
Available from the Internet Archive*1925. ''
Scott's "Tales of a Grandfather"''. New York: Dutton.
*1926. ''Anglo-Saxon Poetry''. London and New York. Translations of selected Old English poems
Gordon's translation of ''The Seafarer'' available online
*1964 (ed.). ''The Story of
Troilus: as told by Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, Robert Henryson''. New York: Dutton. Versions of the Troilus legend by
Benoît de Sainte-Maure,
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...
,
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
and
Robert Henryson.
References
Biography, University of Alberta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, R. K.
Canadian academics of English literature
Anglo-Saxon studies scholars
University of Alberta alumni
Translators from Old English
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
1887 births
1973 deaths
20th-century British translators