In Memoriam, Charles R. Steele, 1944-1987


Charles Steele, scholar, critic, and teacher of Canadian literature, and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of this journal from its inception, died suddenly on July 25, 1987. He was 43.

Chuck Steele was born in Kingston, Ontario on February 1, 1944. He was educated at schools in Mississippi, Read, and Belleville, Ontario and at the Universities of Windsor and Western Ontario. His Ph.D., supervised by Carl F. Klinck, was a pioneering study of early Canadian poetry: "Cana­dian Poetry in English: The Beginnings." In 1972, he joined the Depart­ment of English at the University of Calgary as an Assistant Professor; shortly before he died, he was appointed to the rank of full Professor. Ron Bond, the Chairman of the Department of English at Calgary, and a close friend, said of him in a eulogy: "In the fifteen years that Chuck was part of the . . . Department at the University here, he gave unstintingly of himself to his students and to his fellow workers. I think that the joy he took in literature rubbed off on everyone who came in contact with him. Chuck always regarded himself as a teacher first and foremost, and I know that the effort and concern he put into his teaching will be long remembered. It was not just his dedication to his discipline that was remarkable; it was also the patience and the respect he gave his students as individuals. Chuck had a particular soft spot for his graduate students, and if only some of them . . . go on to inspire [their] students in the way that he has done, he will have left behind him an enduring legacy of which he would have been justifiably proud."

As memorable and enduring as Chuck's teaching are his scholarship and criticism. The author of numerous reviews and review-articles in publications as diverse as The Albertan, Ariel (on whose Editoral Board he also sat), the Canadian Book Review Annual, and The Year's Work in English Studies, he also published articles and editions on a variety of authors and topics, including Archibald Lampman and Emily Dickinson (two of his favourite poets), the Canadian novel and Canadian criticism. Since 1986, his vision of the importance of scholarship and research in the study of Canadian literature has been taking tangible and lasting form in the Canadian Archival Inventories Series of which, with his equally dedicated wife Apollonia, he was a guiding spirit. Not only will this Series continue as a memorial to Charles Steele's vision and effort, but it will provide countless students and scholars in the future with access to the Canadian literature of which, as Hallvard Dahlie (his successor on the Series) has said "no one has been a stronger and more consistent champion . . . than Chuck."

     Charles Steele's administrative contributions to his University and to the Canadian academic world at large were also impressive. He chaired and participated in numerous committees at the Department, Faculty, and University levels, and in the national arena did more than his duty advising the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and other organizations. The many papers that Chuck delivered at Conferences across Canada and, increasingly, around the world are another indication of his extensive reach in a profession which will continue to miss him. As Alan Lawson of the University of Queensland, Australia has said, in the period before he died "Chuck had embraced the possibilities of Canadian/ Australian comparisons with enthusiasm. He was looking forward to giving a paper at the 1988 ACSANZ Conference in Canberra on critical methodologies for the study of the Nineteenth Century. And we were looking forward to hearing it. He will be missed."

Charles Steele had great strength and depth of character. He had firm opinions and a sparkling wit, both all the more attractive for the modest and unassuming way in which they were presented. He was a pleasure to work with, and had a gift for friendship. The last time I saw him in London we followed a discussion of the edition of The Huron Chief upon which we were working with a delightful evening that my wife and I shall never forget. As always, Chuck was witty, incisive, wide-ranging, and charming a perfect dinner guest because a marvellous blend of the academic and the social, the serious and the humourous. How great must his loss be to Polly, to his family, and to his friends in Calgary and elsewhere.

Charles Steele's death has been a severe loss to many people, to his University, and to Canadian literary studies. He will be missed. "Nor shall his name be e'er forgot ...."

 

D.M.R. Bentley