Taylor, Paul B. 1930–

(Paul Beekman Taylor)

PERSONAL:

Born December 31, 1930, in London, England; son of Edith Taylor; married Alexandra Fatio, May 10, 1958 (divorced October 19, 1977); married Rose-Marie Beauverd (a teacher), January 4, 1978; children: (first marriage) Andrea, Maurice Fatio, Nora Annesley, Paul Guillaume; (second marriage) Gareth Gavin, Aude Aurelia. Education: Brown University, A.B., 1954, Ph. D., 1961; Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, M.A., 1958; postdoctoral study at University of Oslo, 1960-61.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Vessy, Switzerland. Office—Department of English, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. E-mail—paul.taylor@lettres.unige.ch.

CAREER:

Brown University, Providence, RI, instructor, 1961-62, assistant professor of English, 1962-64; University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Fulbright lecturer in English and American literature, 1964-65; University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, professor of medieval English language and literature, 1965-97, honorary professor, beginning 1997, director of department, 1969-78, 1989-92. Yale University, visiting fellow of Berkeley College, 1980-81; University of New Mexico, lecturer, 1987-88, 1998-99; visiting professor at Swiss universities in Lausanne, Fribourg, and Zurich. Military service: U.S. Army, 1954-57; became sergeant.

MEMBER:

International Association of University Professors of English, International Saga Society, International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, New Chaucer Society, Viking Society for Northern Research, Swiss Association of University Teachers of English.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright fellowship for Norway, 1960-61; fellowship from National Translation Center, 1967-69.

WRITINGS:

(Editor and translator, with W.H. Auden) Voluspa: The Song of the Sybil (edition with facing translation), Windhover Press (Iowa City, IA), 1967.

(Translator from the Icelandic and author of critical introduction, with W.H. Auden) The Elder Edda, Faber & Faber (London, England), 1969, Random House (New York, NY), 1970.

(Editor, with P.H. Salus) For W.H. Auden: Essays for His Sixty-fifth Birthday, Random House (New York, NY), 1972.

(Translator, with W.H. Auden) Norse Poems, Athlone Press (London, England), 1981.

Chaucer's Chain of Love, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (Rutherford, NJ), 1996.

Sharing Story; Medieval Norse-English Literary Relations, AMS Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Chaucer Translator, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 1998.

Shadows of Heaven: Toomer and Gurdjieff, Samuel Weiser (York Beach, ME), 1998.

Gurdjieff and Orage: Brothers in Elysium, Samuel Weiser (York Beach, ME), 2001.

Gurdjieff's America, Lighthouse Books (London, England), 2004.

Contributor to numerous scholarly books. Contributor of articles and reviews to many scholarly journals, including American Notes and Queries, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Journal of Popular Culture, Chaucer Review, Comparative Literature, Scandinavian Studies, Bilingual Review, Journal of the Southwest, Melus, and Synthese.

SIDELIGHTS:

Paul B. Taylor once told CA: "My major interest has been Germanic language and literature, particularly as an expression of early cultural attitudes. I have studied theories of language use, particularly in Old Icelandic and Old English literature. This interest in language derives primarily from early studies with G.I. Gurdjieff in New York and in Paris (1948-49), and was stimulated by my collaboration with W.H. Auden (1966-72). It has now stimulated writings on American Indian literature."