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| birth_date = {{birth year|1942}} |
| birth_date = {{birth year|1942}} |
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| birth_place = [[St. John’s, Newfoundland]], Canada |
| birth_place = [[St. John’s, Newfoundland]], Canada |
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| death_date = 83 |
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| notable_students = <!–only those with WP articles–> |
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| main_interests = [[John Donne]]<br> Theatre of Newfoundland |
| main_interests = [[John Donne]]<br> Theatre of Newfoundland |
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”’Helen Peters”’ (1942 – 8 January 2026) |
”’Helen Peters”’ (1942 – 8 January 2026) was a Canadian scholar of English literature and a specialist in the theatre of Newfoundland. She was a winner of the British Academy’s [[Rose Mary Crawshay Prize]] for 1981. |
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==Life== |
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==Background== |
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Helen Ruth Katherine Peters was born in 1942 in [[St. John’s, Newfoundland]].<ref name=luminus75>{{cite journal|journal=Luminus|year=1975|title=About Alumni|volume=4|number=3|page=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Convocation|year= 1972|issue= Fall|page=8|title=Master of Arts|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland}}</ref> |
Helen Ruth Katherine Peters was born in 1942 in [[St. John’s, Newfoundland]].<ref name=luminus75>{{cite journal|journal=Luminus|year=1975|title=About Alumni|volume=4|number=3|page=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Convocation|year= 1972|issue= Fall|page=8|title=Master of Arts|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland}}</ref> |
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obtained B.A. (1971) and M.A. (1972) degrees in English from the [[Memorial University of Newfoundland]].<ref name=president>{{cite journal|journal=President’s Report|title=Everything to Catch the Pennies.|page=|year=2003|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland}}</ref> She was a holder of the University Medal in English in 1971.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=MUN Gazette|volume=3|date=8 June 1971|title=Medals and Awards|page=9}}</ref> She went to [[Somerville College, Oxford]] for doctoral studies, where she was a [[Mary Somerville]] Fellow.<ref name=luminus75/> She obtained a [[DPhil]] degree in 1978 with a thesis on [[John Donne]].<ref name=luminus78>{{cite journal|journal=Luminus|volume=6|number= 3|year= 1978|page=6|title=Alumni Update}}</ref> |
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joined the faculty of Memorial University in 1984.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Communicator|url=https://www.mun.ca/marcomm/work/Communicator_Winter_2004.pdf|access-date=3 May 2021|publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland|year=2004|volume=18|number=5–6|title=Retirements|page=21}}</ref> She was elected to the university’s Senate in 1993.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=MUN Gazette|page=4|date=21 October 1993|title=Notes from the Senate}}</ref> |
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was a member of the board of the ”Newfoundland Quarterly”, a cultural and literary journal.<ref name=president/> |
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retired in 2004.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Communicator|publisher=Memorial University|volume=18|number=1–2|page=7|url=https://www.mun.ca/marcomm/work/Communicator_Spring_2004.pdf|title=Campus Scene: Retirements|year=2004|access-date=2 May 2021}}</ref> |
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==Research== |
==Research== |
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Latest revision as of 15:38, 23 January 2026
Canadian academic (1942–2026)
Helen Peters (1942 – 8 January 2026) was a Canadian scholar of English literature and a specialist in the theatre of Newfoundland. She was a winner of the British Academy’s Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for 1981.
Helen Ruth Katherine Peters was born in 1942 in St. John’s, Newfoundland.[1][2]
She obtained B.A. (1971) and M.A. (1972) degrees in English from the Memorial University of Newfoundland.[3] She was a holder of the University Medal in English in 1971.[4] She went to Somerville College, Oxford for doctoral studies, where she was a Mary Somerville Fellow.[1] She obtained a DPhil degree in 1978 with a thesis on John Donne.[5]
Peters joined the faculty of Memorial University in 1984.[6] She was elected to the university’s Senate in 1993.[7]
She was a member of the board of the Newfoundland Quarterly, a cultural and literary journal.[3]
Peters retired in 2004.[8] She died on 8 January 2026, at the age of 83.[9]
In 1980, Peters edited and produced the first critical text of John Donne‘s Paradoxes and Problems. This program had been started by Evelyn Simpson and continued by Helen Gardiner, under whom Peters worked on her doctoral dissertation, which led to the publication of this text.[10] She incorporated ten paradoxes and nineteen problems into the canon, discarding two paradoxes as possibly inauthentic. She showed that Donne’s first edition of the work in 1633 had omissions and corruptions, rendering it unsuitable for a modern standard text, and used material from subsequent prints to create her critical text. Her derivation of Donne’s paradoxes from the classical style of argumentation (the mock encomium and the argument against received opinion) was well articulated but her dating of the works and placement in relation to Donne’s poetry was deemed problematic, given the large amount of extant counter-evidence that showed affinities between the paradoxes and his prose rather than his verse.[11] The book won the British Academy’s Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 1981.[12]
Peters shifted her attention to the theatre of Newfoundland with her edition of The Plays of CODCO (1992), a professional alternative dramatics group known for its monologues, mime, dance and tough humour. A socially activist troupe, CODCO helped to counter mainland Canadian views of Newfoundlanders as simple-minded fishermen.[13] She explored cultural identity in the theatre and in 1994, convened a workshop for the International Federation for Theatre Research, which resulted in a special publication of the journal Theatre Research International, edited by her.[14]
In 1996, she edited and published a collection of Newfoundland and Labrador plays, Stars in the Sky Morning.
- Donne, John (1980). Peters, Helen (ed.). Paradoxes and Problems. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Peters, Helen, ed. (1992). The Plays of CODCO. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
- Lynde, Denyse; Peters, Helen; Buehler, Richard, eds. (1993). Proceedings of the Workshop on Newfoundland Theatre Research. Memorial University.
- Peters, Helen, ed. (1996). Stars in the Sky Morning: Ten Plays Created in the Tradition of Collective Theatre. Creative Book Publishing. ISBNÂ 978-1895387742.
- Baker, Melvin; Peters, Helen; Ryan, Shannon, eds. (1997). People of the Landwash: Essays on Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John’s: Harry Cuff.
- ^ a b “About Alumni”. Luminus. 4 (3): 23. 1975.
- ^ “Master of Arts”. Convocation (Fall). Memorial University of Newfoundland: 8. 1972.
- ^ a b “Everything to Catch the Pennies”. President’s Report. Memorial University of Newfoundland. 2003.
- ^ “Medals and Awards”. MUN Gazette. 3: 9. 8 June 1971.
- ^ “Alumni Update”. Luminus. 6 (3): 6. 1978.
- ^ “Retirements” (PDF). The Communicator. 18 (5–6). Memorial University of Newfoundland: 21. 2004. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^ “Notes from the Senate”. MUN Gazette: 4. 21 October 1993.
- ^ “Campus Scene: Retirements” (PDF). The Communicator. 18 (1–2). Memorial University: 7. 2004. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ Helen Peters, driving force in N.L.’s arts community, dead at 83
- ^ Mezciems, Jenny (1984). “John Donne: ‘Paradoxes’ and ‘Problems’ by Helen Peters”. The Modern Language Review. 79 (1). doi:10.2307/3730335. JSTORÂ 3730335.
- ^ Mueller, Janel M. (1981). “Paradoxes and Problems. by John Donne”. Renaissance Quarterly. 34 (3). JSTORÂ 2861524.
- ^ “The Rose Mary Crawshay Prize” (PDF). British Academy. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^ Gulliver, Mekaela (2014). Preserving the Best: Newfoundland’s Cultural Movement, 1965-1983 (PDF) (PhD). Memorial University of Newfoundland. pp. 235–236. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^ “Take to the stage?”. MUN Gazette: 7. 20 June 1996.
