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Wilfred Watson (May 1, 1911 – March 25, 1998) was professor emeritus of English at Canada's University of Alberta for many years. He was also an experimental Canadian poet and dramatist, whose innovative plays had a considerable influence in the 1960s.〔Shirley Neuman, "(Watson, Wilfred )," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 2284.〕 ''The Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB)'' says that "Watson ushered in an avant-garde in Canadian theater years before the rear guard had fully emerged."〔 ==Life and work== Wilfred Watson was born in Rochester, England in 1911, the oldest child of Louisa Claydon and Frederick Walter Watson. When he was 15 his family immigrated to Canada and settled in Duncan, British Columbia. He attended the University of British Columbia from 1940 to 1943 and received a B.A. in English literature. In 1941 he married Sheila Martin Doherty, who as Sheila Watson would write the novel ''The Double Hook''.〔"(Biography of Wilfred Watson )," Wilfred Watson Fonds Finding Aid, UAlberta.ca, Web, June 11, 2014.〕 On graduating, Watson enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy for the balance of World War II.〔 After the war he attended the University of Toronto, receiving his M.A. in 1946 and Ph.D. in 1951.〔"(Wilfred Watson Biography )," ''Dictionary of Literary Biography,'' Bookrags.com, Web, Apr. 22, 2011.〕 Wilfred Watson began his academic career in 1949 as a lecturer in English at the University of British Columbia. He taught at the University of Alberta in Calgary from 1951 to 1953. In 1954 he transferred to the Edmonton campus, where he remained as professor of English until retiring in 1977.〔 Watson lived in Paris in 1955 and 1956, as the recipient of a Canadian Government Overseas Fellowship. There he was introduced to the theatre of the absurd.〔 In 1961, Sheila Watson was also hired as a professor of English by the University of Alberta. "In Edmonton the Watsons became part of an active circle of writers and established the literary magazine,''The White Pelican'' in 1970 along with Douglas Barbour, Stephen Scobie, John Orrell, Dorothy Livesay, and artist Norman Yates."〔"(Sheila Watson )," English-Canadian Writers, AthabascaU.ca, Web, June 11, 2014.〕 Other members of the Watsons' intellectual circle were actor-directors Gordon Peacock and Thomas Peacocke, both associated with the University of Alberta's Studio Theatre. The Studio Theatre became an important venue for the production of Wilfred Watson's plays, beginning with ''Cockcrow and the Gulls'' (which he'd written in the mid-1950s) in March 1962.〔 In the early 1960s Watson co-founded a jazz club, "Yardbird Suite" in Edmonton. During the same period he became acquainted with Marshall McLuhan and increasingly interested in McLuhan's theories, which resulted in the two men authoring a study, ''From Cliche to Archetype''.〔 The 1960s were Watson's most prolific period for playwriting. ''Trial of Corporal Adam'' was produced in 1963; ''Wail for Two Pedestals'' in 1964; a centennial play, ''O Holy Ghost, Dip Your Finger in the Blood of Canada, and Write, I LOVE YOU'' in 1967; and the satire ''Let's Murder Clytemnestra According to the Principles of Marshall Mcluhan in 1969.〔 During the 1970s Watson returned to poetry, publishing ''The Sorrowful Canadians and Other Poems'' in 1972, ''I Begin with Counting'' in 1978, and ''Mass on Cowback'' in 1982. In 1983 he wrote a major dramatic work, the trilogy ''Gramsci x 3'', which was produced by Studio Theatre in 1986. He also had a short play, ''The Woman Taken in Adultery,'' performed at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in 1987.〔 Wilfred Watson retired in 1977 and moved in 1980 to Nanaimo, British Columbia with his wife Sheila. He died there in 1998 at the age of 87.〔 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「Wilfred Watson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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