PAGE, Norman 1930-

PERSONAL: Born May 8, 1930, in Kettering, England; son of Frederick Arthur and Theresa Ann (Price) Page; married Jean Hampton, March 29, 1958; children: Camilla, Benjamin, Barnaby, Matthew. Education: Emmanuel College, Cambridge, B.A., 1951, M.A., 1955; University of Leeds, Ph.D., 1968.

ADDRESSES: Office—23 Braunston Rd., Oakham, Rutland LE15 6LD, England.

CAREER: High school teacher of English in England, 1951-60; Ripon College of Education, Yorkshire, England, principal lecturer in English and head of department, 1960-69; University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, assistant professor, 1969-70, associate professor, 1970-75, professor of English, 1975-85; University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England, professor of modern English literature, 1985-93, head of department, 1987-93, emeritus professor, 1993—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Canada Council research grants, 1971, 1973, and 1975; Guggenheim fellowship, 1979-80; University of Leicester honorary visiting research fellow, 1979-80, 1982; Royal Society of Canada fellow, 1982.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Charles Dickens, Bleak House, Penguin (Harmondsworth, England), 1971.

The Language of Jane Austen, Blackwell (London, England), 1972.

Speech in the English Novel, Longman (London, England), 1973, 2nd revised edition, Humanities, 1988.

(Editor) Wilkie Collins: The Critical Heritage, Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, England), 1974.

Thomas Hardy, Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, England), 1977.E. M. Forster's Posthumous Fiction, University of Victoria Press, 1977.

(Editor) Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, Norton (New York, NY), 1978, 2nd critical edition, 1999.

(Editor) Thomas Hardy: The Writer and His Background, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1980.

(Editor) D. H. Lawrence: Interviews and Recollections, Macmillan, 1981.

(Editor) Nabokov: The Critical Heritage, Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, England), 1982.

(Editor) A Thomas Hardy Annual, five volumes, Humanities, 1982-87.

A. E. Housman: A Critical Biography, Schocken (New York, NY), 1983.

(Editor) Tennyson: Interviews and Recollections, Barnes & Noble (Totowa, NJ), 1983.

(Editor) Henry James: Interviews and Recollections, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1984.

(Editor) The Language of Literature, Macmillan, 1984.

A Dickens Companion, Schocken (New York, NY), 1984.

A Kipling Companion, Macmillan, 1984.

(Editor) William Golding: Novels, 1954-67, Macmillan, 1985.

(Editor) Byron: Interviews and Recollections, Humanities, 1985.

A Conrad Companion, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1986.

(Editor) Dr. Johnson: Interviews and Recollections, Barnes & Noble (Totowa, NJ), 1987.E. M. Forster, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1988.

A Dickens Chronology, Macmillan, 1989.

The Thirties in Britain, Humanities, 1990.

A Dr. Johnson Chronology, G. K. Hall (New York, NY), 1990.

Muriel Spark, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1990.

(Editor) Bleak House: A Novel of Connections, Twayne (New York, NY), 1990.

An Oscar Wilde Chronology, G. K. Hall (New York, NY), 1991.

(Coeditor with Peter Preston) The Literature of Place, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1993.

(Editor) Mad Monkton and Other Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor) Man and Wife, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(Editor) Alfred Lord Tennyson: Selected Poetry, Routledge (New York, NY), 1995.

An Evelyn Waugh Chronology, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Auden and Isherwood: The Berlin Years, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor) Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Broadview Press, 1998.

(Coeditor with Toru Sasaki) Wilkie Collins: Selections, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

(Coeditor with Toru Sasaki) Mary Elizabeth Braddon, John Marchmont's Legacy, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

(Coeditor with Toru Sasaki) Wilkie Collins, Miss or Mrs?; The Haunted Hotel; The Guilty River, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor) Oxford Reader's Companion to Hardy, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Thomas Hardy: The Novels, Palgrave, 2000.

(Editor) Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, Penguin (New York, NY), 2000.

General editor, Macmillan "Modern Novelists" and "Author Chronologies" series. Contributor of chapters to scholarly books; contributor of articles and book reviews to professional and scholarly journals.

SIDELIGHTS: Educator and literary critic Norman Page examines not only literature, but the nature of the societies that produce great literary figures. According to John Morris in the Journal of European Studies, Page's The Thirties in Britain examines Britain's society and literature "during the fateful decade that culminated in . . . the beginning of the Second World War." Although Morris stated that "at first sight Professor Page's study is not impressive," he ultimately concluded that the work is notable for the manner in which Page "has martialled and juxtaposed his evidence."

In Auden and Isherwood: The Berlin Years, Page transfers his attention to Berlin, Germany during the early twentieth century. Newark, New Jersey Star-Ledger reviewer Roger Harris wrote that Page's book "is at once fascinating and a reliable guide to the influences on the work and lives" of British writers W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood. A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that although Page's book is "timely, the opportunity is mishandled," in part because "the detailed survey of the 1928-1933 urban topography further erodes the narrative." Library Journal contributor Robert Kelly, however, maintained that "Page makes his case convincingly," while Lambda Book Report reviewer Dennis Drabelle commented that "Page writes with flair and wit" in what Drabelle dubbed an "intelligent and fair-minded study."

Upon publication of Page's Oxford Reader's Companion to Hardy, a Booklist contributor praised the volume for reflecting "the high scholarly standards and readability that one has come to expect of an Oxford Companion," and described Page as a "prominent and prolific authority on English literature" who is aided in this effort by "an international team of 42 scholars." Library Journal reviewer Morris Hounion similarly found the work to be "lively and thorough."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Journal of European Studies, December, 1992, John Morris, review of The Thirties in Britain, p. 345.

Lambda Book Report, September, 1998, Dennis Drabelle, review of Auden and Isherwood: The Berlin Years, p. 21.

Library Journal, June 1, 1998, Robert Kelly, review of Auden and Isherwood, p. 110; May 1, 2000, Morris Hounion, review of The Oxford Reader's Companion to Hardy, p. 100.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, February 19, 1984.

New York Review of Books, March 15, 1984.

Publishers Weekly, April 20, 1998, review of Auden and Isherwood, p. 51.

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), August 9, 1998, Roger Harris, review of Auden and Isherwood, p. 6.

Times Literary Supplement, September 6, 1974; September 9, 1977; March 18, 1983; February 10, 1984; April 6, 1984; October 17, 1986; December 18, 1987; February 17, 1989.

Washington Post Book World, February 5, 1984; February 7, 1988.