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George Benson Johnston (October 7, 1913 – August 2004) was a Canadian poet (who published as George Johnston), translator, and academic "best known for lyric poetry that delineates with good-humoured wisdom the pleasures and pains of suburban family life."〔James Steele, "(Johnston, George Benson )," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 1114.〕 He also had an international reputation as a scholar and translator of the Icelandic Sagas.〔 ==Life== Johnston was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1913, the son of Margaret Black and Benson Johnston, an insurance agent.〔 The family moved to the Toronto suburbs in 1923. Johnston knew in high school that he wanted to be a writer.〔"(George (Benson) Johnston Biography )," ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', Bookrags.com, Web, May 4, 2011.〕 He studied at the University of Toronto under Pelham Edgar and E.J. Pratt.〔William H. New, "(Johnston, George Benson )," ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada'' (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2002), 555-556. Google Books, Web, May 4, 2011.〕 There he "read T.S. Eliot, the early William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and added Alexander Pope as a personal favorite." In 1935 he published two poems, "Annabelle" and "The Life in August," in the college magazine, ''Acta Victoriana''.〔 Johnston received his B.A. in 1936, and went to Europe. He stayed in England, continuing to write. He published a story in the ''London Mercury'' in 1937. He soon returned to Canada, but continued to send his work to British magazines.〔 Johnston served as a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot in World War II,〔 serving in Canada, Britain, and West Africa.〔 In 1944 he married Jeanne McCrae;〔 their family would include six children, five by birth and one by adoption.〔 After the war Johnston returned to the University of Toronto, receiving his M.A. in 1946 under the direction of Northrop Frye.〔 He taught at Mount Allison University from 1947 to 1949.〔"(HISTOIRE ADMINISTRATIVE/NOTICE BIOGRAPHIQUE )", George Johnston fonds, ArchivesCanada.ca, Web, May 4, 2011.〕 In 1950 Johnston joined the English department at Carleton College in Ottawa (now Carleton University),〔 where he taught until retirement in 1979.〔 Johnston learned Old Norse from Peter Foote of the University of London, and in 1957 began translating Norse sagas. His first effort, ''The Saga of Gisli'', appeared in 1963; it is still in print. Seven of its poems were included in ''The Oxford Book of Verse in English Translation'', edited by Charles Tomlinson.〔 Johnston has made a dozen translations from Old and Modern Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, and Faeroese.〔 He has translated two books of poetry by Norwegian poet Knut Ødegård.〔 In 1959 Johnston published his first book of his own poetry, ''The Cruising Auk'', which was favourably reviewed by Eric Nicol and Northrop Frye, and by the American magazine ''Alphabet''. ''Alphabet'', Chicago's ''Poetry'' magazine, and Canada's ''Tamarack Review'', all became regular outlets for Johnson's new work.〔 He composed a biography of his friend, the painter (Carl Fellman Schaefer ).〔 After retiring, Johnston moved to Athelstan, in Quebec's Eastern Townships, to raise bees and continue to write.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Benson Johnston」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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