Charles W. Moorman III

Charles W. Moorman III, (1925 – May 3, 1996) was an American writer, and professor at the University of Southern Mississippi from 1954 to 1990. He is notable for his writings on Middle English, Medieval Literature, the Arthurian Legends and the Mythic elements in the writings of the Inklings.

Life and career

Charles W. Moorman III, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1925. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1949. He then earned his Master's (1951), and PhD (1953), both in English from Tulane University. He spent a year as an assistant professor at Auburn University before joining the University of Southern Mississippi as an associate professor of English in 1954.^[1] He taught in the English department for twelve years, was Dean of the graduate school for two years, then academic vice president for twelve years. He stepped down from that post in 1980, to return to teaching. He retired in 1990. Moorman died in Fayetteville Arkansas in 1996.^[2]

Throughout his career, and after, Moorman published regularly on a wide range of topics in Medieval Literature, Arthurian Legends and Middle English. Two exceptions are his books; Arthurian Triptych: Mythic Materials in Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis, and T.S. Eliot, and The Precincts of Felicity: The Augustinian City of the Oxford Christians. These books deal with C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams and other Inklings, and are on lists for Inkling studies.^[3]

In all of his books Moorman used an informal style, making his books as accessible as he could to all. He considered himself “more an essayist than a scholar.”^[4]

Honors

The professorship, The Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Alumni Professor in the Humanities, awarded by the College of Arts and Letters, at the University of Southern Mississippi, is named after him.^[5]

Selected Bibliography of Charles W. Moorman III

1960. Arthurian Triptych: Mythic Materials in Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis, and T.S. Eliot. ISBN 0846217163

1965. The Book of King Arthur: The Unity of Malory's Morte D'arthur

1966. The Precincts of Felicity: The Augustinian City of the Oxford Christians.

1967. A Knyght There Was: The Evolution of the Knight in Literature. ISBN 0813111331

1968. The Pearl-Poet, Volume 64 Twayne's English authors series. ISBN 0805714324

1971. Kings & Captains: Variations on a Heroic Theme. ISBN 0813112486

1975. Editing the Middle English Manuscript. ISBN 0878050639

1977. The Works of the Gawain-Poet. ISBN 0878050280

1978. An Arthurian Dictionary(with Ruth Minary). ISBN 0897333489

1993. The Statistical Determination of Affiliation in the Landmark Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales. ISBN 0773492763

1993. The Celtic literature of defeat: an extraordinary assortment of irregularities. ISBN 0773493328

Notes

1. ^ http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FreePdfViewer.aspx?img=140805928
2. ^ http://bulletin.kenyon.edu/x984.xml
3. ^ http://web.sbu.edu/friedsam/inklings/general.htm
4. ^ Moorman, Charles. "Kings & Captains" University Press of Kentuckey. 1971.
5. ^ http://www.usm.edu/news/article/wiest-named-moorman-distinguished-alumni-professor-humanities