Communication from October 23rd, 2024
Hello everyone,
I write unfortunately to share the sad news of Warren Chernaik’s passing at the age of 92, after a period of ill health. He will be remembered by many as an inspirational teacher, enthusiastic reader, and continuous student of Marvell and Milton. He has left us, but his words have not: his new book, Marvell and Millton: Poets of a Fallen World, should be coming out in a year or two with Cambridge University Press. Should any in the wider community wish to be in contact with Judith, Warren’s wife of many years, she can be reached at: [email protected]. Many thanks to Noel Sugimura for sharing this information with us and providing contact information for Judith.
Martin Dzelzainis has also written with his remembrance that I share with you:
“Warren Chernaik was a great University of London figure back in its federal heyday, which is where and when I first got to know him. As a left-leaning liberal, coming at life and politics from the perspective of ’60s America, he was never one to neglect a good point of principle at a Board of Examiners (or elsewhere). Marvellians everywhere are greatly in his debt, starting with his book The Poet’s Time: Politics and Religion in the Work of Andrew Marvell (1983), a review of which was my first publication. Far too picayune, as I now I re-read it, but right about one thing at least: ‘critics will be forced to reconsider the canon, discussed here in a valuable, closely-argued appendix but also at the forefront of the argument throughout’. We surely were. I was fortunate years later to co-organize with him the 1996 ‘Marvell and Liberty’ conference at Senate House and to co-edit the resulting collection of essays (he was the master, and I very much the apprentice). Later we co-organized the Ninth International Milton Symposium in London to celebrate the quatercentary. What no-one knew then was that Warren was just getting into his stride, publishing a succession of great books and articles in his post-Queen Mary years at King’s College and his beloved Institute of English Studies. What a career. And what a lovely man; ever-enthusiastic, and ever-prepared to see the good in others.”
We all mourn the passing of such an important and generous figure in our world.
Chris
Christopher D’Addario
President, Andrew Marvell Society
Professor and Chair
Department of English
Gettysburg College