Calvin B. Kendall
Professor Emeritus
Central Interests
- Old English literature (especially Beowulf)
- Middle English literature (especially Chaucer)
- Medieval Latin
Awards
- Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of English, 1996-
- CLA Scholar of the College Award, 1999-2002
- University of Minnesota Academy of Distinguished Teachers, 1999-2004
- McKnight Research Award, 1993-96
- Horace T. Morse-Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions ot Undergraduate Education, 1988
Background
- Education
University of California-Berkeley, M.A., Ph.D.
Bowdoin College, B.A.
- Teaching Appointments
University of Minnesota, Professor, 1982-
University of Minnesota, Graduate Faculty, Interndisciplinary Archaelogocial Studies, 1994-
University of Minnesota, Graduate Faculty, Medieval Studies, 1992-
University of Minnesota, Graduate Faculty, Germanic Philology, 1986-
University of Minnesota, Associate Professor, 1971-82
University of Minnesota, Assistant Professor, 1967-71
Seaside High School, Seaside CA, English and Latin Teacher, 1963-67
- Administrative Appointments
Director of Graduate Studies, Program in Germanic Philology 1989-90
Acting Director, Center for Medieval Studies, Fall 1989
Assistant Chair, Department of English, 1974-77
Acting Chair, Department of English, Spring 1976
Publications
- Current projects
A translation, with introduction and notes, of Bede's Commentary on Genesis.
- Books
The Allegory of the Church: Romanesque Portals and Their Verse Inscriptions. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. xv + 401 pp.
Ed., with Peter Wells. Voyage to the Other World: The Legacy of Sutton Hoo. Medieval Studies at Minnesota 5. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992. xix + 222 pp.
Bede's Art of Poetry and Rhetoric: The Latin Text with an English Translation, Introduction, and Notes. Introduction and notes. Bibliotheca Germanica, series nova 2. Saarbrucken AQ-Verlag, 1991. 216 pp.
The Metrical Grammar of Beowulf. Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. xvi+ 318 pp.
Ed., with Charles W. Jones (editor-in-chief), Margot H. King, and Frances Lipp. Bedae Venerabilis Opera, Pars I, Opera Didascalica. Corpus Christianorum, series latina 123A. Turnhout: Brepols, 1975. xxvi + 237 pp. [Ed., Beda Venerabilis, De Arte Metrica et De Schematibus et Tropis. In Corpus Christianorum 123A: 59-171.]
- Recent Articles
- Other Articles and Chapters
"The Verse Inscriptions of the Tympanum of Jaca and the PAX Anagram," Mediaevalia 19 (1996), 405-34.
"Literacy and Orality in Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Horizontal Displacement in Andreas." Journal of English and Germanic Philology 95 (1996), 1-18.
"The Plan of St. Gall: An Argument for a 320-Foot Church Prototype." Mediaeval Studies 56 (1994), 279-97.
"The Gate of Heaven and the Fountain of Life: Speech-Act Theory and Portal Inscriptions." Essays in Medieval Studies 10 (1993), 111-28.
"The Voice in the Stone: The Verse Inscriptions of Ste.-Foy of Conques and the Date of the Tympanum." Hermeneutics and Medieval Culture, ed. Patrick J. Gallacher and Helen Damico. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989, pp. 163-82.
"Dry Bones in a Cathedral: The Story of the Theft of Bede's Relics and the Translation of Cuthbert into the Cathedral of Durham in 1104." Mediaevalia 10 (1988), 1-26.
"Let Us Now Praise a Famous City: Wordplay in the OE Durham and the Cult of St. Cuthbert." Journal of English and Germanic Philology 87 (1988), 507-21.
"Introduction: Sutton Hoo and Early Medieval Northern Europe," in Voyage to the Other World, ed. Kendall and Wells, pp. ix-xix (co-authored with Peter S. Wells).
"The Metrical Grammar of Beowulf: Displacement." Speculum 58 (1983), 1-30
"The Prefix un- and the Metrical Grammar of Beowulf. " Anglo-Saxon England 10 (1982), 39-52
"Imitation and the Venerable Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica." Saints, Scholars, and Heroes, 2 vols., ed. Margot H. King and Wesley M. Stevens. Collegeville, MN: St. John's University, 1979, vol. 1: The Anglo-Saxon Heritage, pp. 161-90.
"Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica: The Rhetoric of Faith." Medieval Eloquence: Studies in the Theory and Practice of Medieval Rhetoric, ed. James J. Murphy. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978, pp. 145-72.
Teaching
- Graduate seminars
- EngL 8050: The Allegory of the Church
- EngL 8110: Medieval Aesthetics Seminar
- EngL 8210: Old English Poetry/Orality and Literacy
- Combined graduate and undergraduate courses
- EngL 5211: Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
- EngL 5212: Readings in Old English Prose and Verse
- EngL 5213: Beowulf
- Courses for undergraduate majors
- EngL 3008: Techniques of Literary Study
- EngL 3111: Survey of English Literature--The Beginning to 1603
- EngL 3218: Medieval Literature in Translation
- EngL 3242: Shakespeare
- EngL 3920: Northern Europe in the Age of Sutton Hoo
- EngL 3960: Junior-Senior Seminar - Medieval Narrative
- General education courses
- EngL 1011: Introduction to Old & Middle English Literature
- EngL 1020: Introduction to Medieval Studies
Other Activities
- Membership in Professional Organizations
- Association of Literary Scholars and Critics
- International Society of Medieval Art
- Medieval Academy of America
- Medieval Association of the Midwest
- Midwest Modern Language Association
- Modern Language Association
- Modern Language Society
- Academic Service
- Department of English Graduate Curriculum Committee, 2001
- Department of English Graduate Admissions Committee, 1987-99, 1997, 2000
- CLA Policy & Review Council Assembly, 1999-2000
- CLA Language & Liberal Arts Policy & Review Council, 1999-2000
- Chair, CLA Promotion and Tenure Review Committee, 1996-97
- Executive Committee, Center for Medieval Studies, 1989-91, 1996-2000
- McKnight Research Award Committee, 1994