Leeming, David Adams 1937-

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LEEMING, David Adams 1937-

PERSONAL: Born February 26, 1937, in Peekskill, NY; son of Frank Clifford (an Episcopal priest) and Margaret Adams (Reeder) Leeming; married Pamela Elaine Fraser, July 2, 1967; children: Margaret Adams, Juliet Ann. Education: Princeton University, A.B., 1958; summer graduate study at University of Caen, 1959; New York University, M.A., 1964, Ph.D., 1970. Religion: Episcopalian.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 72, Pomfret, CT 06258. Office—Department of English, University of Connecticut, U-25, Storrs, CT 06268.

CAREER: Robert College, Istanbul, Turkey, Lycée English department head, 1958-63, 1966-69; University of Connecticut, Storrs, began as assistant professor of English, 1969, became professor of English and comparative literature, currently professor emeritus. Secretary-assistant to author James Baldwin in New York and Istanbul, 1964-67.

MEMBER: Modern Language Association of America, Federation of University Teachers.

WRITINGS:

(And editor) Mythology: The Voyage of the Hero, Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1973, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Flights: Readings in Magic, Mysticism, Fantasy, and Myth, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1974.

Mythology, Newsweek Books (New York, NY), 1976.

The World of Myth, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1990.

(With daughter, Margaret Adams Leeming) Encyclopedia of Creation Myths, ABC-CLIO (Santa Barbara, CA), 1994, published as A Dictionary of Creation Myths, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Jake Page) Goddess: Myths of the Female Divine, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

James Baldwin: A Biography, Knopf (New York, NY), 1994.

(With Kathleen Morgan Drowne) Encyclopedia of Allegorical Literature, ABC-CLIO (Santa Barbara, CA), 1996.

(With Jake Page) God: Myths of the Male Divine, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

(Editor) Storytelling Encyclopedia: Historical, Cultural, and Multiethnic Approaches to Oral Traditions around the World, Oryx (Phoenix, AZ), 1997.

Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Jake Page) The Mythology of Native North America, University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, OK), 1998.

(Editor) The Children's Dictionary of Mythology, Franklin Watts (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor, with Jake Page) Myths, Legends, and Folk-tales of America: An Anthology, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Stephen Spender: A Life in Modernism, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1999.

A Dictionary of Asian Mythology, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Christopher R. Fee) Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Myth: A Biography of Belief, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

(Editor) The Dictionary of Folklore, Franklin Watts (New York, NY), 2002.

From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to Comparative Literature, Children's Literature, and Revue de Litterature Comparée.

SIDELIGHTS: David Adams Leeming is an authority on the comparative literature of mythology. Leeming has edited numerous encyclopedias and dictionaries of various myth forms while also writing books on the psychology and structure of myths. In a Publishers Weekly review of Myth: A Biography of Belief, a critic noted that Leeming "brings myth out of the past and smartly into the present." Library Journal correspondent Richard K. Burns also praised Leeming for his "elegant contributions to the vast literature on mythology." Leeming's reference books on mythology are aimed at the general reader and include bibliographies and definitions for difficult concepts. His Children's Dictionary of Mythology drew commendation from a Booklist reviewer as "a thorough, clear, and attractive addition to the mythology reference collection" in elementary schools. Likewise, another Booklist critic found the Storytelling Encyclopedia: Historical, Cultural, and Multiethnic Approaches to Oral Traditions around the World to be "a valuable source on various aspects of folklore and storytelling around the world from early times to the present."

Leeming, a professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut, has also written biographies of James Baldwin, Beauford Delaney, and Stephen Spender.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1995, review of Encyclopedia of Creation Myth, p. 1269; February 1, 1997, review of Encyclopedia of Allegorical Literature, p. 964; February 15, 1998, review of Storytelling Encyclopedia: Historical, Cultural, and Multiethnic Approaches to Oral Traditions around the World, p. 1038; December 15, 1999, review of The Children's Dictionary of Mythology, p. 799, January 1, 2000, Dona Helmer, review of A Dictionary of Creation Myths, p. 958.

Library Journal, February 1, 2002, review of Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain and A Biography of Belief, p. 109.

Publishers Weekly, October 29, 2001, review of Myth: A Biography of Belief, p. 59.