TERRY, Arthur (Hubert) 1927-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born February 17, 1927, in York, England; died January 24, 2004, in Colchester, Essex, England. Educator and author. Terry was an international authority on Catalan literature. After graduating with a B.A. from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1947, he served in the Royal Education Corps for two years, returning to Trinity to complete a master's degree in 1950. His first teaching position was as an assistant lecturer at Queen's University in Belfast, where he was inspired by Ignasi Gonzalez Llubera to research Catalan and Hispanic literature. After rising to the position of Musgrave Professor of Spanish and serving as head of his department from 1962 to 1972, Terry moved to the University of Essex, where he would remain until retiring in 1993. His work during this time to promote Catalan literature, especially works by modern poets such as Pere Gimferrer and Charles Riba, is credited by many academics for giving this culture's literature the wider attention it deserves. Among Terry's books on the subject, his Catalan Literature (1972), which was revised in 2003 as A Companion to Catalan Literature, remains an important standard of its kind. In addition to his writing and teaching, Terry also was president of the Anglo-Catalan Society from 1962 to 1965 and of the Associaci Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes from 1982 to 1988. Terry, who was interested in comparative literature and in teaching literary theory and translation, was an authority on seventeenth-century Spanish poets, as well. Among his many publications are Sobre poesia catalana contemporania: Riba, Foix, Espriu (1985), Seventeenth-Century Spanish Poetry: The Power of Artifice (1993), La Poesia de Joan Maragall (2000), and La Idea del lenguaje en la poesia española contemporańnea (2003). Celebrated for his contributions to the understanding of Catalan and Hispanic literature, Terry was honored both at home and in Spain, where he was the recipient of such awards as the Premi Internacional Catalnia, the Crue de Sant Jordi (1982), and the Premi Internacional Ramon Llull (1995). After retiring, he remained active for years as a visiting professor and lecturer.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), February 19, 2004, p. 27.

Independent (London, England), February 4, 2004, p. 18.