RIP: Professor Peter Alexander, University of New South Wales, Sydney 1949-2015 For those of you who have followed with joy and pleasure The Diary ... and The Life of Iris Vaughan, allow me to share with you the loss of my mentor and fellow fan of The Diary of Iris Vaughan, Peter Alexander, who passed away on 15 January 2015 in Sydney, Australia. In Peters obituary in the Sunday Times last week, journalist Chris Barron referred to Emeritus Professor Peter Alexander as South Africas foremost literary biographer. He has written biographies on Roy Campbell, Alan Paton and Lourens van der Post (unfinished). And several articles on Iris Vaughan, but I guess it will be up to me to do the full biography. Peter was born in Grahamstown, where his father was a minister, and is thus a child of Eastern Cape soil. He matriculated at Jeppe Boys High and studied English at the University of the Witwatersrand before moving on to Cambridge to do his PhD. There he met his wife Christine. Her field is juvenilia - the published writings of children. And this is how he became fascinated with The Diary of Iris Vaughan. He started what I have been able to continue: following her life through the Eastern Cape and he gave me a good platform to begin working on. He was my sounding board for all things Iris; my academic mentor; and my friend. I met with him several times when he visited South Africa and he was always excited to hear any new facts Id unearthed about Iris. The highlight of my association with him was the collaborative notes we did for the latest Juvenilia Press edition of The Diary. He knew about my posts on this site, and he was thrilled about the extra information you the members were able to add to the body of knowledge on Iris - not to mention finding Charles Vaughans granddaughter. I was also lucky to visit him in Sydney at the university and at his home a number of times; the last time was in January 2014. I am so glad I made the effort, and deeply grateful to my niece Kathryn and her hubby Bryce for driving me there. This is the last photo I have of him; here with Christine. Peter passed away after a long illness bravely borne. Sleep gently, my friend.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 18:30:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015