The UBC Department of English Language & Literatures is saddened to mourn the passing of Professor Emeritus Anthony (Tony) Dawson.
Professor Dawson was a prolific scholar who authored and edited seven books and over 30 scholarly articles on Shakespeare and Marlowe. He taught English and Theatre at UBC for almost 40 years, and was known for his passion for literature and talent for bringing Shakespeare to life.
“Tony’s scholarship is utterly unforgiving of anything that lacks nuance. And yet, it is also marked by a profound sensitivity to the wonders of literary worlds and to the swirl of words that build them. Nowhere was this gift more apparent than in his teaching. His ability to rouse the most languid of students with his readings is the stuff of legend,” writes Professor Patsy Badir. “He was a dear friend who altered the course of my life.”
“Whenever I teach Paradise Lost, I always tell my students about Tony choking up over the final lines, and I always choke up, too. I think I always will, and that seems a perfect tribute,” says Professor Siân Echard.
“I really respected him in a way that directed my own thoughts and shaped my academic career. But I also liked him personally a great deal, feeling at ease in talking with him about anything on my mind,” writes Professor Emeritus Nicolas Hudson. “I feel a great loss, and my heart goes out to his family and those close to him.”
“Intimacy would be another name for Tony’s empathy, and it was made possible by his capacity for living, impatiently at times, in the shared moment. No wonder he taught and spoke Shakespeare and Milton so fluently,” says Professor Mark Vessey. “Life’s alterations come at all scales, and Tony remained alert to those – however slight – in other people’s lives even when he may have been completely consumed by that of his own.”
“I confess when I first arrived at UBC I was terrified of Tony—he refused to be gentle with this young sessional colleague, and it took me a long time to see that his forthrightness, his challenges to my ideas, were actually a sign of respect: that he didn’t care what my title was but rather how my brain worked, and that he loved the cut-and-thrust of a good argument,” writes Professor Elizabeth Hodgson. “I found him increasingly a dear colleague: honest, insightful, unselfregarding, a warm and supportive elder. I will miss him.”
A celebration of Professor Dawson’s life will be held on August 30th, 2024 at 1:00pm at VanDusen Botanical Garden.
