Sabor, Peter

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Sabor, Peter

PERSONAL:

Education: Cambridge University, B.A., M.A.; Queen's University, M.A.; University of London, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of English, McGill University, Arts Bldg., 853 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T6, Canada. E-mail—peter.sabor@mcgill.ca.

CAREER:

McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, currently professor and director of the Burney Centre; has also taught at Laval University, Queen's University, and University of Calgary. Distinguished visiting scholar, Christ's College, Cambridge, 2002.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Standard research grants, Social Science and Humanities Research Council, 1996-99, 1999-2002, 2002-05, 2006-09; named Canada Research Chair in Eighteenth-Century Studies, 2003.

WRITINGS:

Horace Walpole: A Reference Guide, G.K. Hall (Boston, MA), 1984.

(Editor and author of introduction) John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1985.

(Editor) Horace Walpole, the Critical Heritage, Routledge (New York, NY), 1987.

(Editor, and author of introduction, with Kerry McSweeney) Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1987.

(Editor, with Margaret Anne Doody) Frances Burney, Cecilia; or, Memoirs of an Heiress, introduction by Margaret Anne Doody, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1988.

(Editor, with Margaret Anne Doody) Samuel Richardson: Tercentenary Essays, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1989.

(Editor, with Margaret Anne Doody and Robert L. Mack) Frances Burney, The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties, introduction by Margaret Anne Doody, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor, with Geoffrey M. Sill) The Complete Plays of Frances Burney, two volumes, McGill-Queen's University Press (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1995.

(Editor and author of introduction, with Geoffrey Sill) Frances Burney, The Witlings; and, The Woman-Hater, Pickering & Chatto (London, England), 1998.

(Editor) Sarah Fielding, The Adventures of David Simple: Containing an Account of His Travels through the Cities of London and Westminster, in the Search of a Real Friend; and, The Adventures of David Simple, Volume the Last: In Which His History Is Concluded, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 1998.

(Editor, with Thomas Keymer) The "Pamela" Controversy: Criticisms and Adaptations of Samuel Richardson's "Pamela," 1740-1750, six volumes, Pickering & Chatto (Brookfield, VT), 2001.

(Selector and author of introduction, with Lars E. Troide) Frances Burney, Journals and Letters, Penguin (New York, NY), 2001.

(Editor, with Nicole Coté) Varieties of Exile: New Essays on Mavis Gallant, P. Lang (New York, NY), 2002.

(Editor) Sarah Fielding, The History of Ophelia, Broadview Press (Orchard Park, NY), 2004.

(With Thomas Keymer) "Pamela" in the Marketplace: Literary Controversy and Print Culture in Eighteenth-Century Britain and Ireland, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Peter Sabor has spent the major part of his career in academia focusing on the Restoration and eighteenth-century literature. With teaching positions in Canada and England, Sabor often seeks in his research to bring together scholars from other fields to gain a more complete picture of eighteenth-century literature. Sabor has edited a number of books, including Sarah Fielding's The History of Ophelia, and two from her "The Adventures of David Simple" series. As head of the Burney Centre at McGill University, he has had a great deal of experience with editing the works of Frances Burney, including Cecilia; or, Memoirs of an Heiress; The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties; and The Witlings; and, The Woman-Hater, as well as his plays.

In 2001 Sabor edited The "Pamela" Controversy: Criticisms and Adaptations of Samuel Richardson's "Pamela," 1740-1750 with fellow eighteenth-century scholar Thomas Keymer. The controversy surrounds Samuel Richardson's 1740s fictional character, Pam- ela, and the literary imitations, critical commentary, and various artistic representations that sprang from it. In an Eighteenth-Century Life review, Mark G. Spencer commented that these "marvelous volumes … will surely spur modern interest and … may direct scholars towards new areas of illuminating inquiry." Sabor and Keymer, according to Spencer, "take their readers on a journey that, going far beyond the seemingly principal texts, encompasses prepublication puffs of Pamela … as well as a whole host of poems … reviews, plays, operas, burlesques, paintings, engravings, wax-work shows, and prose continuations of Pamela's story by Richardson and his competitors." Nobert Schurer, in his review for Eighteenth-Century Studies, wrote that Pamela's controversy is "knowledgeably introduced volume by volume" by the editors. Spencer concluded that "these volumes are well conceived, expertly executed, and contain remarkably few errors caused by the copy editing or printing."

In 2004 Sabor edited the last novel written by Sarah Fielding, The History of Ophelia. The title character narrates her life through the lens of her ignorance of London society, having grown up in Wales. Cameron McFarlane noted in an Eighteenth Century Fiction review that Sabor's choice of this novel was somewhat strange for her own preferences. However, McFarlane praised Sabor's "admirable" editorial work. The critic went on to say that "Sabor's excellent introduction positions the novel in the context of Fielding's life, her other works, and, most interestingly, other eighteenth-century fictions." Betty A. Schellenberg also noted Sabor's work with Sarah Fielding's writings. In a University of Toronto Quarterly review, Schellenberg noted that Sabor "continues to broaden the range of Fielding's publications accessible for wide reading and vigorous debate."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Eighteenth Century Fiction, summer, 2006, Cameron McFarlane, review of The History of Ophelia, pp. 554-556.

Eighteenth-Century Life, spring, 2002, Mark G. Spencer, review of The "Pamela" Controversy: Criticisms and Adaptations of Samuel Richardson's "Pamela," 1740-1750, pp. 96-100.

Eighteenth-Century Studies, summer, 2002, Norbert Schurer, review of The "Pamela" Controversy, pp. 637-642; fall, 2002, Susan Carlile, review of The Witlings; and, The Woman-Hater, pp. 135-138.

Publishers Weekly, April 6, 1998, review of The Adventures of David Simple, Volume the Last: In Which His History Is Concluded, p. 61.

Quebec Studies, fall-winter, 2002, Patrick Coleman, review of Varieties of Exile: New Essays on Mavis Gallant, p. 92.

University of Toronto Quarterly, winter, 2006, Betty A. Schellenberg, review of The History of Ophelia, pp. 272-274.