MacQueen, John 1929-

PERSONAL:

Born February 13, 1929, in Glasgow, Scotland; son of William Lochhead (a medical technician) and Grace Palmer (a nurse) MacQueen; married Winifred Wallace McWalter (a teacher), June 22, 1953; children: Hector, Angus, Donald. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: University of Glasgow, M.A., 1950; Christ's College, Cambridge, B.A., 1952, M.A., 1954. Politics: "None." Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Poetry, walking, listening to music (mainly classical), archaeology, some forms of mathematics and philosophy, astronomy and physics (especially relativity and quantum physics), reading science fiction.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Stranraer, Scotland. E-mail—jackmacqueen@aol.com.

CAREER:

Washington University, St. Louis, MO, assistant professor of English, 1956-59; University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, lecturer, 1959-63, Masson Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature, 1963-71, professor of Scottish literature and oral tradition, 1971-88, endowment fellow, 1988-92, director of School of Scottish Studies, 1969-88. Military service: Royal Air Force, flying officer, 1954-56.

MEMBER:

Royal Astronomical Society (fellow), Folklore Society (honorary member), Royal Society of Edinburgh (fellow).

AWARDS, HONORS:

D.Litt., National University of Ireland, 1985; Fletcher of Saltoun Award for services to Scotland, Saltire Society, 1990.

WRITINGS:

St. Nynia, Oliver & Boyd (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1961, 3rd edition with supplement, John Donald (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1990.

(Editor, with T. Scott) The Oxford Book of Scottish Verse, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1966.

Robert Henryson, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1967.

Ballattis of Luve, Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1970.

Allegory, Methuen (London, England), 1970.

(Editor, with wife Winifred MacQueen) A Choice of Scottish Verse, 1470-1570, Faber & Faber (London, England), 1972.

The Enlightenment and Scottish Literature, Scottish Academic Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1982-89.

Progress and Poetry, Scottish Academic Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1982.

Numerology, Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1985

The Rise of the Historical Novel, Scottish Academic Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1989.

(Editor, with Winifred MacQueen) "The Scotichronicon" in Latin and English, Aberdeen University Press (Aberdeen, Scotland), Books 3-4, 1989, Books 1-2, 1993, Book 5, 1995.

(Editor) Humanism in Renaissance Scotland, Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1990.

Place-Names in the Rhinns of Galloway and Luce Valley, Stranroes and District Local History Trust (Stranroes, Scotland), 2002.

Complete and Full with Numbers, Rodopi (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to scholarly journals. Editor of Scottish Studies, 1969-83.

SIDELIGHTS:

John MacQueen once told CA: "I am interested in continuity and change between historical periods up to and including the present. I was trained as a classicist and find the period from Plato to Plotinus particularly interesting, both in itself and its effect on later generations. The interaction between philosophy and early Christianity goes far to produce the culture which dominated the Middle Ages and Renaissance until it was challenged by the concept of progress and the rise of science, particularly astronomy. The dominant voice of the earlier period is poetry, of the latter the novel. Additional insight may be found (oddly enough) in the study of the historical sequence and relations to be found in place-names. My writing is an attempt to investigate aspects of the situation.

"Strong influences have been the writings of H.M. and N.K. Chadwick (the teaching also of the latter), Gilbert Murray, E.R. Curtius, E.R. Dodds, John Bryce, and Alastair Fowler."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times Literary Supplement, April 20, 1990, G.W.S. Barrow, review of "The Scotichronicon" in Latin and English, Books 3-4.