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Thanks, Sandy, for this, sad news indeed. He will be missed by all of us. Cliff ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Carolyn Black" <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2014 10:06:02 AM > Subject: sad news about Larry Clopper > > From Alexandra Johnston: > > We learned today that Larry Clopper, one of REED's first editors, has > died in Bloomington, Indiana. > > I first met Larry at the Medieval Drama Seminar at the Modern > Language > Association in Chicago in 1973 when Margaret Dorrell Rogerson and > myself who were editing the York records, Larry who was editing the > Chester records and David Galloway who was editing the Norwich > records > had been invited to give papers on our work. It was at that meeting > that the idea of REED was born and from the beginning Larry was an > active partner. His edition of the Chester records was well advanced > by the time REED was operational in 1976 and the fledgling editorial > team in Toronto was able to form REED's editorial policies as two > very > different collections -- Chester and York -- were being processed. > Both collections were published in 1979. Larry was a longstanding > member of the REED Advisory Board from the beginning of the project. > Although his scholarly interests widened after the publication of the > Chester volume to include other areas of Middle English literature > such as Piers Plowman, he responded gamely to the suggestion of a > second edition of his Chester records in the context of the records > of > Cheshire edited by Elizabeth Baldwin and David Mills. This collection > was published in 2007 almost 30 years after his original research. > All > three editors were at the launch in Chester and those of us there > were > treated to a spirited but amicable debate between Larry and David > about the pageant route standing on the streets of Chester in the > pouring rain. We note with sadness that Larry and David -- two great > REED men of Chester -- have died within a year of each other. > > Larry made other important contributions to the study of early > theatre > and its cultural context particularly through his controversial book > Drama, Play and Game: English Festive Culture in the Medieval and > Early Modern Period (2001). He loved an argument and would defend his > ideas with great vigour -- but such debates were invariably followed > by a glass of good wine or a great meal in a restaurant he had just > discovered. He will be missed by all of us in the REED community. >