Warren Johansson
Encyclopedia
Warren Johansson was a philologist, author and a leading American gay
scholar during his lifetime. He was founding member of the Scholarship Committee of the Gay Academic Union
.
His first venture into gay scholarship was to virtually co-author Greek Love with the numismatist Walter Breen, who wrote under the name J. Z. Eglinton.
He abandoned formal academic studies (at Columbia University
) without bothering to obtain a Ph.D. Johansson made himself a master of all the modern European languages (excepting only Basque, Hungarian, and Finnish). He was a master of Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic. He used his startling linguistic abilities to read deeply and spent much of his life in research libraries, particularly at Columbia, where his extensive knowledge of obscure Slavonic dialects made him a valuable informal resource to scholars in the Russian department. William A. Percy cites just one example of Johansson's surprising discoveries: while the British Wolfenden Committee
was sitting, Johannson unearthed the by-now-famous citation from Sigmund Freud, to the effect that homosexuals were not sick, and sent it off. Later, he provided expert testimony to legislative bodies in several countries including Luxembourg, Moldova and Argentina.
Johansson apparently ran through a couple of bequests in record time: at one point he was driving a Mercedes in California, but most of the time he was penniless, and slept in public places such as libraries while keeping his few possessions in storage lockers. As Percy points out, Johansson came to see himself as a model of the Talmudic scholar, and thought it only fair that he should receive room and board in exchange for providing what amounted to an advanced post-graduate education in gay studies, gratis.
At the present moment, it is impossible to write the complete biography of this extremely reclusive person. From time to time, more facts emerge, such as the traumatic murder of Johansson's father -- blown to pieces with a shotgun by robbers in his pharmacy.
Author and historian William Armstrong Percy has called Johansson "simply the most extraordinary person I have ever known."
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
scholar during his lifetime. He was founding member of the Scholarship Committee of the Gay Academic Union
Gay Academic Union
The Gay Academic Union was a group of LGBT academics who aimed at making the academia more amenable to the LGBT community. It was formed in April 1973, just four years after the Stonewall riots,, held 4 yearly conferences and conducted other scholarly activities...
.
Biography
Warren Johansson was born in 1934, in Philadelphia, with the name Philip Joseph Wallfield. His father was Jewish and so, one presumes, was the young Philip. At some point in his later career, he changed his name to the very Nordic "Warren Johansson," to express his disapproval of Jewish homophobia.His first venture into gay scholarship was to virtually co-author Greek Love with the numismatist Walter Breen, who wrote under the name J. Z. Eglinton.
He abandoned formal academic studies (at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
) without bothering to obtain a Ph.D. Johansson made himself a master of all the modern European languages (excepting only Basque, Hungarian, and Finnish). He was a master of Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic. He used his startling linguistic abilities to read deeply and spent much of his life in research libraries, particularly at Columbia, where his extensive knowledge of obscure Slavonic dialects made him a valuable informal resource to scholars in the Russian department. William A. Percy cites just one example of Johansson's surprising discoveries: while the British Wolfenden Committee
Wolfenden report
The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution was published in Britain on 4 September 1957 after a succession of well-known men, including Lord Montagu, Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood, were convicted of homosexual offences.-The committee:The...
was sitting, Johannson unearthed the by-now-famous citation from Sigmund Freud, to the effect that homosexuals were not sick, and sent it off. Later, he provided expert testimony to legislative bodies in several countries including Luxembourg, Moldova and Argentina.
Johansson apparently ran through a couple of bequests in record time: at one point he was driving a Mercedes in California, but most of the time he was penniless, and slept in public places such as libraries while keeping his few possessions in storage lockers. As Percy points out, Johansson came to see himself as a model of the Talmudic scholar, and thought it only fair that he should receive room and board in exchange for providing what amounted to an advanced post-graduate education in gay studies, gratis.
At the present moment, it is impossible to write the complete biography of this extremely reclusive person. From time to time, more facts emerge, such as the traumatic murder of Johansson's father -- blown to pieces with a shotgun by robbers in his pharmacy.
Author and historian William Armstrong Percy has called Johansson "simply the most extraordinary person I have ever known."
Works
- Co-editor, Encyclopedia of Homosexuality.
- co-author, Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence.