Barbara Reynolds
Encyclopedia
Barbara Reynolds is an English scholar, lexicographer and translator, wife of the philologist and translator Lewis Thorpe
.
, Reynolds was educated at St Paul's Girls' School
and University College, London.
from 1937 to 1940. During the Second World War, she was an assistant lecturer (1940–1945) at the University of Cambridge
, then University Lecturer in Italian Literature and Language from 1945 to 1962. She was Warden of Willoughby Hall, University of Nottingham
, from 1963 to 1969 and Reader in Italian Studies at Nottingham from 1966 to 1978. Alongside her teaching work, she was chief executive and General Editor of the Cambridge Italian Dictionary from 1948 to 1981 and managing editor of Seven, an Anglo-American literary review, from 1980 to 2004.
Reynolds held the title of Honorary Reader in Italian at the University of Warwick
from 1975 to 1980 and was Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley
, 1974–75, Wheaton College
, Illinois
, 1977–78, and 1982, Trinity College, Dublin
, 1980 and 1981, and Hope College
, Michigan
, 1982. She is was chairman of the Dorothy L Sayers Society from 1986 to 1994 and president from 1995. Its officers in recent years have regularly programmed events for 13 June, the common birthday of Sayers and Reynolds.
She won the Edmund G. Gardner Memorial Prize for Italian Studies in 1964 and the Monselice International Literary Prize in 1976 for her translation of Orlando Furioso
.
Beyond the Dictionary, her first book was a study of Alessandro Manzoni
.
She completed and annotated Paradiso, the last volume of Dorothy L. Sayers
' three-volume translation of Dante
's Divine Comedy, which was left unfinished at Dorothy Sayers' death. Reynolds afterwards translated Dante's La Vita Nuova
and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso
for the Penguin Classics. She has written a study of Dante's life and work, Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man.
In 1993, Reynolds published a biography of Sayers, who was her god-mother, called Dorothy L. Sayers: Her life and soul (1993). She has since edited four volumes of Sayers's letters and an additional volume.
Lewis Thorpe
Lewis Thorpe B.A. L.-ès-L. Ph.D D. de l'U FIAL FRSA FRHistS was a British philologist, translator, and husband of the Italian scholar and lexicographer Barbara Reynolds. He died on 10 October 1977....
.
Early life
The daughter of Alfred Charles Reynolds, and the god-daughter of Dorothy L. SayersDorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
, Reynolds was educated at St Paul's Girls' School
St Paul's Girls' School
St Paul's Girls' School is a senior independent school, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England.-History:In 1904 a new day school for girls was established by the trustees of the Dean Colet Foundation , which had run St Paul's School for boys since the sixteenth century...
and University College, London.
Career
Reynolds was an assistant lecturer in Italian at the London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
from 1937 to 1940. During the Second World War, she was an assistant lecturer (1940–1945) at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, then University Lecturer in Italian Literature and Language from 1945 to 1962. She was Warden of Willoughby Hall, University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
, from 1963 to 1969 and Reader in Italian Studies at Nottingham from 1966 to 1978. Alongside her teaching work, she was chief executive and General Editor of the Cambridge Italian Dictionary from 1948 to 1981 and managing editor of Seven, an Anglo-American literary review, from 1980 to 2004.
Reynolds held the title of Honorary Reader in Italian at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
from 1975 to 1980 and was Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, 1974–75, Wheaton College
Wheaton College (Illinois)
Wheaton College is a private, evangelical Protestant liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, 1977–78, and 1982, Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, 1980 and 1981, and Hope College
Hope College
Hope College is a medium-sized , private, residential liberal arts college located in downtown Holland, Michigan, a few miles from Lake Michigan. It was opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, 1982. She is was chairman of the Dorothy L Sayers Society from 1986 to 1994 and president from 1995. Its officers in recent years have regularly programmed events for 13 June, the common birthday of Sayers and Reynolds.
Awards and honours
The Italian government awarded Reynolds its Silver Medal for Services to Italian culture in 1964 and made her Cavaliere Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 1978.She won the Edmund G. Gardner Memorial Prize for Italian Studies in 1964 and the Monselice International Literary Prize in 1976 for her translation of Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532...
.
Major publications
Her major work is the Cambridge Italian Dictionary, of which she was General Editor. The first volume appeared in 1962 and the second in 1981.Beyond the Dictionary, her first book was a study of Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist.He is famous for the novel The Betrothed , generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature...
.
She completed and annotated Paradiso, the last volume of Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
' three-volume translation of Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
's Divine Comedy, which was left unfinished at Dorothy Sayers' death. Reynolds afterwards translated Dante's La Vita Nuova
La Vita Nuova
La Vita Nuova is a medieval text written by Dante Alighieri in 1295. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a combination of both prose and verse...
and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532...
for the Penguin Classics. She has written a study of Dante's life and work, Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man.
In 1993, Reynolds published a biography of Sayers, who was her god-mother, called Dorothy L. Sayers: Her life and soul (1993). She has since edited four volumes of Sayers's letters and an additional volume.