John V. Fleming

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John V. Fleming is an American literary critic and the Louis W. Fairchild, '24 Professor of Literature and Comparative Literature, emeritus, at Princeton University.

[edit] Career

Fleming graduated from The University of the South in 1958. After studying at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, Fleming earned his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1963, where his dissertation director was D. W. Robertson, Jr. He spent two years as an Instructor in English at the University of Wisconsin before returning to Princeton as an assistant professor of English in 1965. Beginning in 1978 he took up a joint appointment in the Department of Comparative Literature. His fields of expertise included medieval English, French, and Latin literatures, and the history and culture of the Franciscan Order in the Middle Ages. He is perhaps best known in Princeton for his popular and erudite lecture course on Geoffrey Chaucer.

From 1995 to 2006, he authored a weekly column in The Daily Princetonian, titled "Gladly Lerne, Gladly Teche" (a reference to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales). He served for several years as a Commissioner of Higher Education of Middle States. He was active in numerous learned societies, including the Medieval Academy of America, which he served as its President.

In 2006, after 40 years at Princeton, he moved to emeritus status. He is an elected member of The Guild of Scholars of The Episcopal Church.

[edit] Selected works

• 1492: An Ongoing Voyage (1992, with Ida Altman and John Hebert)
• Classical Imitation and Interpretation in Chaucer's Troilus (1990)
• Reason and the Lover (1984)
• From Bonaventure to Bellini: An Essay in Franciscan Exegesis (1982)
• An Introduction to the Franciscan Literature of the Middle Ages (1977)
• The Roman de la Rose: A Study in Allegory and Iconography (1969)

Preceded by position created

Fairchild Professor of English at Princeton University 1982–2006

Succeeded by D.J. Fuss

[edit] External links

• "Princeton Journeys: Chaucer's Canterbury with John Fleming" (Princeton University Alumni Association)
• "Fleming honors 'Class of Destiny' at Baccalaureate" (News@Princeton, June 3, 2007)
• Full text of the 2007 Baccalaureate Address, delivered by Professor Fleming at the Princeton University Chapel on June 3, 2007
• "Dr John Fleming talks about the Middle Ages and the modern world, part 1" (Fausta's blog, March 14, 2007)
• Professor Fleming's bio at the P.U. English Department website
• "A Celebration of John Fleming’s (*63) Scholarship and Teaching in Honor of his Retirement"
• "Professor Fleming's last column" in The Daily Princetonian (May 15, 2006)
• "Four faculty members recognized for their outstanding teaching" (Princeton Weekly Bulletin; June 14, 2004)
• Fleming receives the Alumni Council Award for Service to Princeton (Reunions 2004)
• "Fleming prepares for yet another role: Emeritus" (Princeton Weekly Bulletin; May 17, 2004)
• "Tweed and Testosterone" (The Chronicle of Higher Education)