Angus Calder
Encyclopedia
Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder (5 February 1942 – 5 June 2008) was a Scottish
academic, writer
, historian
, educator
and literary editor
with a background in English literature
, politics
and cultural studies
.
, and wrote a doctorate
at the University of Sussex
, on politics in the United Kingdom during World War II
. His book, The People's War: Britain 1939-1945, was published in 1969.
, Walter Scott
's Old Mortality, T. E. Lawrence
's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Evelyn Waugh
's Sword of Honour trilogy and Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson.
In 1981 he published Revolutionary Empire (1981), a study of three centuries of imperial development by English speakers to the end of the 18th century. Revolving Culture: Notes from the Scottish Republic is a collection of essay
s on Scottish topics which expressed itself through the writings of such figures as Burns and Scott and in gestures of realpolitik such as the repression of "Jacobins
" during the French Revolution
. In 1984 Calder helped to set up the Scottish Poetry Library
in Edinburgh and served as its first convener. He also worked as an editor of Hugh MacDiarmid
's prose.
The Myth of The Blitz (1991) argued that received ideas of the civilian population's reaction to the bombing of London
still reflected wartime propaganda
. Calder examined how the German bombings generated ideas and images of plucky and stoical suffering and resistance that defined post-war Britain's sense of itself; but it also showed that the "chirpy Cockney", "all pull together" stereotypes were partly propaganda which hid the reality of an inequality of suffering due to deep social divisions, and concealed unheroic stories of opportunistic looting and rape.
A nationalist and socialist, he moved from the Scottish National Party
(SNP) to the Scottish Socialist Party
, and though he cherished the Scottish republican spirit, he sought to challenge some of the popular myths surrounding the country's sense of national identity. In Revolving Culture: Notes from a Scottish republic (1992) he described the development, during the early stages of the Union with England, of an "intellectual republic" forged by a combination of insularity and lack of English interest in Scottish affairs.
In 1997 he edited Time to Kill — the Soldier's Experience of War in the West 1939-1945 with Paul Addison
; Scotlands of the Mind (2002); Disasters and Heroes: On War, Memory and Representation (2004); and Gods, Mongrels and Demons: 101 Brief but Essential Lives (2004), a collection of potted biographies of "creatures who have extended my sense of the potentialities, both comic and tragic, of human nature". He had always published verse and won a Gregory Award for his poetry in 1967.
assumed growing importance in the 1980s, and Calder became active in the debate. Although his upbringing in England had inculcated a love of English
literature and of cricket
, during the Thatcherite
1980s he found it impossible to support the English cricket team.
A distinctive "Scottish social ethos" informed the activities of prominent Scots in the years of Empire, when they had invested heavily in the concept of Britishness
, though he felt that the Scots had meddled much more overweeningly with the English sense of identity than the English ever did with the Scots'. He was delighted to discover that the game had been introduced to Sri Lanka
by a Scot.
, where he became a conspicuous figure on the Scottish literary
scene as a published poet and commentator on Scottish culture and politics. Calder taught all over the world, lecturing in literature at several African universities and serving from 1981 to 1987 as co-editor of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature.
for his poetry and the 1970 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
.
(1906–1982), a noted science writer, Humanist
and pacifist. His first wife was Jenni, née Jennifer Daiches
, daughter of noted Scottish literary critic David Daiches
, with whom Calder collaborated on a book about Sir Walter Scott in 1969.
His nephew is Simon Calder
.
In 1971, after the publication of The People's War, the Calders moved to Edinburgh, where he published Russia Discovered,
a survey of 19th-century Russian fiction in 1976, and, three years later, became staff tutor in Arts with the Open University
. The Calders had two daughters - Rachel and Gowan - and a son, Gideon. His first marriage ended in 1982; he married Kate Kyle in 1986, with whom he had a son, Douglas, born 1989. He took early retirement from the Open University in 1995, his life increasingly shaped by a long-term alcohol dependency.
He died from lung cancer
on 5 June 2008, aged 66.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
academic, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, educator
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and literary editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
with a background in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and cultural studies
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
.
Education
He read English literature at King's College, CambridgeKing's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
, and wrote a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
at the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
, on politics in the United Kingdom during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His book, The People's War: Britain 1939-1945, was published in 1969.
Writing
He became a ubiquitous figure on the Scottish literary scene, writing essays and articles, books on Byron and Eliot, and working as editor of collections of poetry and prose. He also wrote introductions to new publications of such diverse works as Great ExpectationsGreat Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
, Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's Old Mortality, T. E. Lawrence
T. E. Lawrence
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO , known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18...
's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
's Sword of Honour trilogy and Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson.
In 1981 he published Revolutionary Empire (1981), a study of three centuries of imperial development by English speakers to the end of the 18th century. Revolving Culture: Notes from the Scottish Republic is a collection of essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s on Scottish topics which expressed itself through the writings of such figures as Burns and Scott and in gestures of realpolitik such as the repression of "Jacobins
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
" during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. In 1984 Calder helped to set up the Scottish Poetry Library
Scottish Poetry Library
The Scottish Poetry Library was founded in 1984 by the poet Tessa Ransford. It originally had two staff members, including Scottish poet, Tom Hubbard, and 300 books, but has since expanded considerably to containing 30,000 items of Scottish and international poetry...
in Edinburgh and served as its first convener. He also worked as an editor of Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...
's prose.
The Myth of The Blitz (1991) argued that received ideas of the civilian population's reaction to the bombing of London
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
still reflected wartime propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. Calder examined how the German bombings generated ideas and images of plucky and stoical suffering and resistance that defined post-war Britain's sense of itself; but it also showed that the "chirpy Cockney", "all pull together" stereotypes were partly propaganda which hid the reality of an inequality of suffering due to deep social divisions, and concealed unheroic stories of opportunistic looting and rape.
A nationalist and socialist, he moved from the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
(SNP) to the Scottish Socialist Party
Scottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....
, and though he cherished the Scottish republican spirit, he sought to challenge some of the popular myths surrounding the country's sense of national identity. In Revolving Culture: Notes from a Scottish republic (1992) he described the development, during the early stages of the Union with England, of an "intellectual republic" forged by a combination of insularity and lack of English interest in Scottish affairs.
In 1997 he edited Time to Kill — the Soldier's Experience of War in the West 1939-1945 with Paul Addison
Paul Addison
Paul Addison is a British author and historian, specializing in the British experience in the Second World War and its effects on post-war society. After graduating from Nuffield College, Oxford, in 1967, Addison became a Lecturer at Edinburgh University and subsequently a Reader, for 23 years...
; Scotlands of the Mind (2002); Disasters and Heroes: On War, Memory and Representation (2004); and Gods, Mongrels and Demons: 101 Brief but Essential Lives (2004), a collection of potted biographies of "creatures who have extended my sense of the potentialities, both comic and tragic, of human nature". He had always published verse and won a Gregory Award for his poetry in 1967.
Nationalism
Questions of Scottish national identityScottish national identity
Scottish national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity and common culture of Scottish people and is shared by a considerable majority of the people of Scotland....
assumed growing importance in the 1980s, and Calder became active in the debate. Although his upbringing in England had inculcated a love of English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
literature and of cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, during the Thatcherite
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
1980s he found it impossible to support the English cricket team.
A distinctive "Scottish social ethos" informed the activities of prominent Scots in the years of Empire, when they had invested heavily in the concept of Britishness
Britishness
Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics, and is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British culture—such as habits, behaviours...
, though he felt that the Scots had meddled much more overweeningly with the English sense of identity than the English ever did with the Scots'. He was delighted to discover that the game had been introduced to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
by a Scot.
Editor
Calder spent much of his career in EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, where he became a conspicuous figure on the Scottish literary
Scottish literature
Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers. It includes literature written in English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Brythonic, French, Latin and any other language in which a piece of literature was ever written within the boundaries of modern Scotland.The earliest...
scene as a published poet and commentator on Scottish culture and politics. Calder taught all over the world, lecturing in literature at several African universities and serving from 1981 to 1987 as co-editor of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature.
Awards
In 1967 he won the Eric Gregory AwardEric Gregory Award
The Eric Gregory Award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under 30 on submission. The awards are up to a sum value of £24000 annually....
for his poetry and the 1970 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom...
.
Family
He was the son of Lord Ritchie CalderPeter Ritchie Calder
Peter Ritchie Ritchie-Calder, Baron Ritchie-Calder was a noted Scottish author, journalist and academic....
(1906–1982), a noted science writer, Humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and pacifist. His first wife was Jenni, née Jennifer Daiches
Jenni Calder
Jenni Calder is a Scottish literary historian, and arts establishment figure. She was formerly married to Angus Calder, and is the daughter of David Daiches. She also once ran the Edinburgh Book Festival.-Some works:...
, daughter of noted Scottish literary critic David Daiches
David Daiches
David Daiches was a Scottish literary historian and literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote extensively on English literature, Scottish literature and Scottish culture.-Early life:...
, with whom Calder collaborated on a book about Sir Walter Scott in 1969.
His nephew is Simon Calder
Simon Calder
Simon Calder , is an English travel writer, currently the senior travel editor for The Independent newspaper.-Biography:...
.
In 1971, after the publication of The People's War, the Calders moved to Edinburgh, where he published Russia Discovered,
a survey of 19th-century Russian fiction in 1976, and, three years later, became staff tutor in Arts with the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
. The Calders had two daughters - Rachel and Gowan - and a son, Gideon. His first marriage ended in 1982; he married Kate Kyle in 1986, with whom he had a son, Douglas, born 1989. He took early retirement from the Open University in 1995, his life increasingly shaped by a long-term alcohol dependency.
He died from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
on 5 June 2008, aged 66.
History and literary criticism
- The People’s War: Britain, 1939-45. London: Jonathan Cape, 1969.
- Scott, with Jenni Calder. London: Evans, 1969.
- Russia Discovered: Nineteenth Century Fiction from Pushkin to Chekhov. London: Heinemann, 1976.
- Revolutionary Empire: The Rise of the English-Speaking Empires from the Fifteenth Century to the 1780s. London: Jonathan Cape, 1981.
- T. S. Eliot. Brighton: Harvester, 1987.
- Byron. Buckingham: Open University Press, 1987.
- The Myth of the Blitz. London: Jonathan Cape, 1991.
- Revolving Culture. London: I.B. Tauris, 1994.
- Scotlands of the Mind. Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2002.
- Disasters and Heroes: On War, Memory and Representation. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2004.
- Gods, Mongrels and Demons: 101 Brief but Essential Lives. London: Bloomsbury, 2004.
Poetry
- Waking in Waikato. Edinburgh: diehard, 1997.
- Horace in Tollcross: Eftir some odes of Q. H. Flaccus. Newtyle: Kettilonia, 2000.
- Colours of Grief. Nottingham: Shoestring, 2002.
- Dipa’s Bowl. London: Aark Arts, 2004.
- Sun Behind the Castle: Edinburgh Poems. Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2004.
Edited collections: poetry and prose
- Britain at War, 1942. London: Jonathan Cape, 1973.
- Writers in East Africa', with Andrew Gurr. Nairobi: East African Literature, 1974.
- Summer Fires: New Poetry of Africa, with Jack Mapanje and Cosmo PieterseCosmo PieterseCosmo George Leipoldt Pieterse is a South African playwright, actor, poet, literary critic and anthologist.Pieterse went to the University of Cape Town and taught in Cape Town until leaving South Africa in 1965. He was banned under the Riotous Assemblies Act of 1962...
. London: Heinemann, 1983. - Englische Lyrik 1900-1980, with Gabriele Bok. Leipzig: Reclam, 1983.
- Speak for Yourself: A Mass Observation Anthology, with Dorothy Sheridan. London: Jonathan Cape, 1984.
- Byron and Scotland: Radical or Dandy?, London: Edinburgh University Press, 1989.
- Selected Poetry by Robert Burns, with William Donnelly. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991.
- David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, with John M. Mackenzie and Jeanne Cannizzo. London: National Portrait Gallery, 1996.
- Time to Kill: The Soldier’s Experience of War in the West, 1939-45, with Paul Addison. London: Pimlico, 1997.
- The Rauchle Tongue: Selected Essays, Journalism and Interviews by Hugh MacDiarmid, with Glen Murray and Alan Riach (3 vols). Manchester: Carcanet, 1997-98.
- Wars. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999.
- Selected Poems by Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999. - The Souls of the Dead are Taking the Best Seats: 50 World Poets on War, with Beth Junor. Edinburgh: Luath Press, Edinburgh, 2005.
Introductions
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965.
- Faces at the Crossroads ed. Chris Wanjala. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1971.
- Old Mortality by Walter Scott. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975.
- The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. LawrenceT. E. LawrenceLieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO , known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18...
. Ware: Wordsworth, 1999. - The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell. Ware: Wordsworth, 1999.
- Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2001.
- The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose BierceAmbrose BierceAmbrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
, illustrated by Ralph Steadman. London: Bloomsbury, 2003. - The Thrie Estaitis by David Lindsay, ed. Alan Spence. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003.
- Sugar-Coated Pill: Selected Poems by Mahmood Jamal. Edinburgh: Word Power, 2007.
External links
- Obituary by Bernard CrickBernard CrickSir Bernard Rowland Crick was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views were often summarised as "politics is ethics done in public"...
, The Guardian, 10 June 2008. - Independent Online obit
- The Herald (Obituary)
- The Scotsman (Obituary)
- The Independent (Obituary)
- The Daily Telegraph (Obituary)
- The Times (Obituary)
- Financial Times (Obituary)
- Times Higher Education (Obituary)