Introduction II: William C. Atkinson (1902–1992) Scholar of Spain, Portugal and Latin America

Abstract

In ‘Introduction II. William C. Atkinson (1902–1992): Scholar of Spain, Portugal and Latin America’, Ann L. Mackenzie conducts a detailed survey of William Atkinson’s life and career, from his beginnings in Belfast, Northern Ireland through to his death, aged ninety, in 1992. Mackenzie’s survey is derived mainly from first-hand research into Atkinson’s memoirs and scholarly publications; she has also utilized obituaries, reviews and documentary evidence preserved in the archives at Queen’s University Belfast, where he obtained his degrees, and at Glasgow University where he was Stevenson Professor of Hispanic Studies (1932–1972). Among his many services to Hispanism, Mackenzie highlights his pioneering role in establishing Portuguese Studies and, especially, Latin American Studies, as principal fields of learning in British universities. He is also remembered for taking over the editorship of the Bulletin of Spanish Studies when its founder-editor E. Allison Peers died in 1952, thereby ensuring its survival. Mackenzie assesses in detail Atkinson’s numerous scholarly publications—not only his books, editions and translations, but also his articles and reviews in major journals. His most influential works, in her view, were his biographical and critical study of the sixteenth-century Spanish Humanist, Hernán Pérez de Oliva, his History of Spain and Portugal and his prose-translation of Camões’ The Lusiads. Among his most memorable activities were the five lengthy visits he made to Latin America between 1946 and 1971: these lecture tours mostly funded by the British Council, took him to all twenty Latin-American countries several times over. Mackenzie also records what he did during World War II, when he was seconded to the Foreign Office. Though based mainly at Oxford, he was sent on several fact-finding missions to Spain and Portugal. Mackenzie also writes about Atkinson in situ at Glasgow University where as Professor and Head of Hispanic Studies, and latterly also as Director of the Latin-American Institute (established in 1966), he showed an exemplary interest in the welfare of his students, and in assisting them to pursue careers in banking, commerce, school-teaching, the Civil Service and, especially, Higher Education. Many of his graduates took up lectureships and professorships in universities, both at home and overseas, where they trained more academics in their turn, as specialists in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

Key words:

• William C. Atkinson (1902–1992)
• University of Glasgow
• World War II
• Bulletin of Spanish Studies/Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
• Spain: its literature
• history & culture
• Latin America
• Brazil
• Mexico
• Latin American Studies
• Portuguese Studies
• Luis de Camões
• The Lusiads
• A History of Spain and Portugal
• Hernán Pérez de Oliva

Notes

1 Some account is given of his year in Madrid, 1924–1925, in William C. Atkinson, Fragments of University Reminiscence (published for the first time in this Festschrift); see Chapter 1, ‘1922–: Discovering the Spaniard’).

2 For information about Atkinson’s early career I am indebted to Glasgow University’s Archives, which made available to me, among other papers, Atkinson’s Application for the Stevenson Chair of Spanish (1932), in the form of a detailed letter, with testimonials—reproduced in Part I of this Festschrift. Thanks are also due to my colleague, Dr Hilary Macartney, University of Glasgow, who helped me to locate in the University's Archives particular documents relevant to my researches on Professor Atkinson. For additional information about his undergraduate and postgraduate studies, I am most grateful to Ursula Mitchel, Archives Officer, the McClay Library, Queen’s University Belfast; also to Professor Isabel Torres and Mrs Jill Gray, Queen’s University Belfast.

3 See ‘Notes and News’, BSS, I:2 (1924), 85–88 (p. 88); for the essay itself, see BSS, I:2 (1924), 74–75.

4 E. Allison Peers, second holder, since 1922, of the Gilmour Chair of Spanish (established at Liverpool University in 1908, and the oldest such chair in the country), was doing everything he could to promote the study of Spanish, both in Britain’s schools and in its universities. It took many years, however, before his crusade achieved its principal aims. The Stevenson Chair of Spanish at Glasgow University (founded in 1924) had as its declared purpose, not only to promote ‘Spanish studies in the University [but] likewise among the students (including teachers, students of commerce, and persons engaged in business) attending a recognised Central Institution for Higher Commercial Education in Glasgow’; and required ‘that the Professor shall in respect of his office, and without further remuneration, perform such duties in relation to Commercial Education as may be prescribed by the University Court’ (quoted from the full particulars of the Stevenson Chair of Spanish as supplied to applicants [including Atkinson] in 1932; these may be consulted in Glasgow University’s Archives).

5 Quoted from the testimonial written in 1932 by H. M. Hallsworth, Armstrong College, in support of Atkinson’s candidacy for the Chair of Spanish at Glasgow University (reproduced in full below).

6 See Atkinson’s report on this ‘Spanish Circle’ at Armstrong College, in ‘Notes and News’, BSS, V:17 (1928), 46–47 (p. 47).

7 Previously, Spanish had only been a subsidiary subject, examined as a paper within another degree. For information on Atkinson’s career at Armstrong College, I am indebted to Alan Callender, Special Collections Assistant, Robinson Library, Newcastle University.

8 The second oldest chair in the UK, the Cervantes Chair of Spanish Language and Literature at King’s College London, was established in 1916. Its first holder was James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, who had moved from the Gilmour Chair of Spanish at Liverpool University, leaving the vacancy to which, eventually, Peers was appointed. The King Alfonso XIII Chair of Spanish Studies was not created at Oxford until 1928; its first holder was Salvador de Madariaga.

9 For information on Sir Daniel Stevenson, Chancellor of Glasgow University, 1934–1944, see below, Atkinson’s Fragments of University Reminiscence, Chapter 2, ‘1932–: Glasgow and a Chair’; see also its note 4.

10 Atkinson was one of four external assessors chosen to assist the Selection Committee at Liverpool University to appoint a suitable replacement for E. Allison Peers to occupy the Gilmour Chair of Spanish. His letter in support of Sloman’s appointment is cited in The ‘Comedia’ in the Age of Calderón: Studies in Honour of Albert Sloman, ed, with an intro., by Ann L. Mackenzie, BHS, LXX:1 [1993], ‘Introduction’, 1–15 (p. 3). I am most grateful to Adrian Allan who, when Archivist at Liverpool University, provided me with copies of documents relating to the Gilmour Chair of Spanish; these included letters from the external assessors consulted about Sloman’s suitability as a candidate.

11 Quoted from Peers’ letter of reference, dated 12 February 1932, which is to be found as part of Atkinson’s application for the Stevenson Chair of Spanish at Glasgow (reproduced in Part I). Peers knew Atkinson well by 1932, and not only because of the younger man’s contributions to the Bulletin of Spanish Studies, or because of his work as Honorary Secretary of the MHRA which Peers had founded in 1918. While still in post at Armstrong College, Atkinson had taught students attending the Summer School of Spanish regularly organized by Peers in Santander, and later in San Sebastián. In 1930 he had delivered a course of lectures in Santander on Spanish literature, a fact he reveals in his application for the Chair at Glasgow.

12 See William Atkinson, Hernán Pérez de Oliva. A Biographical and Critical Study, Revue Hispanique, LXXI:160 (1927), 309–484; Hernán Pérez de Oliva, Teatro, a critical edition, with intro. & notes, by William Atkinson, Revue Hispanique, LXIX:156 (1927), 521–659; Miguel de Unamuno, Recuerdos de niñez y de mocedad, sel. & ed., with notes & a vocab., by William Atkinson (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1929).

13 See William Atkinson, ‘Spain: The Country, Its Peoples and Languages’, in Spain: A Companion to Spanish Studies, ed. E. Allison Peers (London: Methuen, 1929), 1–28.

14 See William Atkinson, ‘September in Barcelona’, BSS, I:4 (1924), 145–47. Atkinson also mentions this coup in his Fragments of University Reminiscence, Chapter 3, ‘1942–: One Man’s War’; see also its note 4.

15 William Atkinson, ‘Columbus—and a Biography’, BSS, III:9 (1925), 27–29.

16 See E. Allison Peers, ‘Twenty-five Years’, BSS, XXV:100 (1948), 199–206 (p. 206).

17 For these ‘Studies in Literary Decadence’, see William Atkinson, ‘The Picaresque Novel’, BSS, IV:13 (1927), 19–27; ‘La comedia de capa y espada’, BSS, IV:14 (1927), 80–89; ‘The Pastoral Novel’ [1], BSS, IV:15 (1927), 117–26; ‘The Pastoral Novel’ [2], BSS, IV:16 (1927), 180–86.

18 See Atkinson, ‘The Pastoral Novel’ [2], BSS, IV:16 (1927), 186.

19 See Atkinson, Fragments of University Reminiscence, Chapter 2, ‘1932–: Glasgow and a Chair’. Atkinson's starting salary as Stevenson Professor of Spanish in 1932, was £1,100.

20 Atkinson, ‘1932–: Glasgow and a Chair’.

21 See BLN [Barbara Napier], ‘William C. Atkinson, MA, Professor of Hispanic Studies’, The College Courant (The Journal of the Glasgow University Graduates Association), 24:49 (Martinmas, 1972), 38. For further recollections of Atkinson as teacher and department head, see, in this Festschrift, John C. McIntyre, ‘Professor William C. Atkinson (WCA) As Remembered by Some Former Students’.

22 For his comments on these ‘three first keys’ (language, literature and history) to the study of another civilization, see William C. Atkinson, ‘British and American Universities, Languages, and Area Studies’, South Atlantic Bulletin, XXI:2 (November 1955), 1–4 (p. 3).

23 Quoted from William C. Atkinson, ‘La Trahison des clercs: Notes on the Writing of Spanish Literary History’ [review-article], BSS, XV:57 (1938), 4–19 (p. 19).

24 See A Handbook to the Study and Teaching of Spanish, ed. & intro. by E. Allison Peers, with the assistance of W. J. Entwistle & W. C. Atkinson (London: Methuen & Co., 1938). See William C. Atkinson, ‘An Introduction to Portuguese’, Part IV, Chapter XVI, 268–81; and, in the same handbook, Atkinson, ‘Translation from Spanish’, Part I, Chapter VI, 88–101.

25 See W. Atkinson, ‘Classical and Modern Spanish Literature’, The Year’s Work in Modern Language Studies, I (1930), ed. William J. Entwistle (Oxford: Oxford U. P./London: Humphrey Milford, 1931), 102–09. Atkinson was still contributing this section to the YWMLS until W. C. Atkinson, ‘Classical and Modern Spanish Literature’, The Year’s Work in Modern Language Studies, VIII (1937), ed. L. W. Tancock & A. Gillies (Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 1938), 134–38.

26 William C. Atkinson, Spain: A Brief History (London: Methuen & Co., 1934); reviewed, for instance, by María Victoria de Lara, in BSS, XI:42 (1934), 114–15.

27 See William C. Atkinson, ‘Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, BSS, X:39 (1933), 136–41; William Atkinson, ‘Luis de León in Eighteenth-Century Poetry’, Revue Hispanique, LXXXI:2 (1933), 363–76 (‘Tome LXXXI et Dernier [première partie & deuxiéme partie] dedié à la mémoire de R. Foulché Delbosc’, 2 vols [New York/Paris Hispanic Society of America, 1933]); ‘Castellano, español, idioma nacional’, review-article of Hayward Keniston, The Syntax of Castilian Prose, BSS, XV:59 (1938), 155–58.

28 See William C. Atkinson, ‘La Dorotea, acción en prosa’, in Lope de Vega Tercentenary Number, BSS, XII:48 (1935), 198–217; and his ‘Lope de Vega 1562–1635’, The English Review (1935), 319–31.

29 William C. Atkinson, ‘Séneca, Virués, Lope de Vega’, in Homenatge a Antoni Rubió i Lluch: miscel·lànea d’estudis literaris històrics i lingüístics, 3 vols (Barcelona: s.n., 1936), I, 111–21 (p. 121).

30 See Atkinson, Fragments of University Reminiscence, Chapter 3, ‘1942–: One Man’s War’.

31 Atkinson, ‘1942–: One Man’s War’. Some typescripts of the talks he gave on the radio during the War are preserved in the Atkinson Papers in Glasgow University’s Archives.

32 See William C. Atkinson, ‘Suggested Bases for a British Policy to Spain’, The Fortnightly (February 1945), 69–84.

33 William C. Atkinson, British Contributions to Portuguese and Brazilian Studies (London/New York/Toronto: Published for the British Council by Longmans, Green & Co., 1945 [rev. ed. 1974]).

34 The books on Latin America which he reviewed for the Bulletin in this period included: Sturgis E. Leavitt, Hispano-American Literature in the United States. A Bibliography of Translation and Criticism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. P./Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1932) (BSS, X:38 [1933], 103–04); F. A. Kirkpatrick, The Spanish Conquistadores (London: A & C Black, 1934) (BSS, XII:45 [1935], 51–53); H. Grattan Doyle, A Bibliography of Rubén Darío (1867–1916) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. P./Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1935) (BSS, XIII:49 [1936], 53–54; Onera Amelia Merritt-Hawkes, High Up in Mexico (London: Nicholson & Watson, 1936) (BSS, XIV:53 [1937], 52–53); Handbook of Latin American Studies, I, ed. Lewis Hanke (Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. P., Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1936) (BSS, XV:57 [1938], 76); Handbook of Latin American Studies, III, ed. Lewis Hanke (Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. P./Oxford: Oxford U. P./London: Humphrey Milford, 1938) (BSS, XVI:62 [ 1939], 115–16).

35 See Peers’ review of William C. Atkinson, ‘Classical and Spanish Literature’, in The Year’s Work in Modern Language Studies, V (1934), ed. William J. Entwistle, with the assistance of L. W. Tancock, 116–24 (BSS, XII:47 [1935], 160).

36 See Atkinson, Fragments of University Reminiscence, Chapter 5, ‘1962–: Brave New World’. See also William C. Atkinson, ‘A Rolling Stone Bows Out’, Glasgow University Gazette, 67 (December 1971), 1–3 (p. 1); reproduced below, in Part I.

37 See William C. Atkinson, ‘Programme for a School of Latin-American Studies’, in International Hispanic Number, BSS, XXIV:94 (1947), 139–46 (p. 142).

38 William C. Atkinson, ‘The Significance of Latin America’, Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, LXXII, Pt 2 (1947), 11–26.

39 J. C. J. Metford, British Contributions to Spanish and Spanish-American Studies (London/New York/Toronto: Published for The British Council by Longmans, Green & Co. 1950), 82.

40 On Donald Shaw’s career, including the Glasgow years, see David T. Gies & Ann L. Mackenzie, ‘ “Who? Me. A Memoir”: Donald Leslie Shaw (1930–2017), BSS, XCIV:1 (2017), 149–55. For Shaw’s comments on his own career, see Gustavo San Román, ‘The Rise of Modern Latin American Literary Studies in the UK: A Questionnaire to Early Practitioners’, in Latin American Studies in the UK, ed., with an intro., by William Rowe, Luis Rebaza-Soraluz & Claudio Canaparo, BSS, LXXXIV:4–5 (2007), 447–94 (pp. 465–67). Shaw vividly recalls his seven years as a lecturer at Glasgow University in his unpublished memoirs, ‘Donald Shaw, Who? Me. A Memoir’ (Charlottesville, Virginia, 2001).

41 For the insights and recollections of some of the first students within Atkinson’s Department of Hispanic Studies to follow the Honours Programme in Latin American Studies which he had introduced, see McIntyre, ‘Professor William C. Atkinson (WCA)’.

42 Shaw, as reported in San Román, ‘The Rise of Modern Latin American Literary Studies in the UK: A Questionnaire’, 466.

43 Regarding the inauguration of the Institute on 3 March 1967, see W. C. Atkinson, ‘Institute of Latin-American Studies’, Glasgow University Gazette, 54 (June 1967), 9–11.

44 For information on Arsenio Pacheco and Antoni Turull, see above, my ‘Introduction I. A Festschrift for William Atkinson’, and note 9. Fernando Huerta went on to become a professor of Spanish literature, specialising in Spain’s eighteenth century, at the Universidad Autónoma, Barcelona. Laureano Bonet made a name for himself as literary critic, journalist and creative writer. He held academic posts at the Universities of Cincinnati and McGill, and from 1970 until his retirement in 1998 he was a professor at the Universidad de Barcelona. A distinguished native assistant in Atkinson’s Department at Glasgow at an earlier period (1939–1942) was the poet Luis Cernuda. For information on Cernuda’s time at Glasgow, see Audrey Lumsden-Kouvel, Hugh Matthews & I. L. McClelland, ‘Awaiting the Dawn: Luis Cernuda in Glasgow, 1941–43’, BHS (Glasgow), LXXVI:2 (1999), 249–61; see especially, Lumsden-Kouvel, 249–52, and Matthews, ‘ “Ni Glasgow ni Escocia me resultaban agradables”: Cernuda As University Teacher’, 253–57.

45 For interesting observations on visitors to Glasgow University, see Atkinson, Fragments of University Reminiscence, Chapter 4, ‘1952–: Around and about a Quincentenary’. See also the last paragraph of this Chapter 4, and his comment: ‘Visitors from Latin America were now a commonplace to Hispanic Studies’.

46 See William C. Atkinson, ‘British and American Universities, Languages, and Area Studies’, 3.

47 On Atkinson in his final years at Glasgow University, see Bernard McGuirk, ‘Re-Writing the Estado Novo: Antonio Tabucchi’s Sostiene [Afirma] Pereira’, passim.

48 John McIntyre, Margaret Tejerizo, Bernard McGuirk and the late Giovanni Pontiero, besides myself, are contributors to this Festschrift. John McIntyre, a specialist in modern Spanish America, spent his entire career in post at the University of Strathclyde; Margaret Tejerizo retires in 2018 as Senior Lecturer in Russian Studies at Glasgow University; Bernard McGuirk is now Emeritus Professor of Romance Literatures and Literary Theory at the University of Nottingham. Mervyn Lang, a specialist both in the development of Modern Spanish and in the history of mining in colonial Spanish America (New Spain), taught for many years at Salford University; and Annella McDermott was a lecturer at the University of Bristol, specializing in nineteenth-century Latin-American literature and history. For information on careers pursued by Atkinson’s students and graduates from the period 1955–1962, see McIntyre, ‘Professor William C. Atkinson (WCA)’. On the late Giovanni Pontiero, see Ann L. Mackenzie, ‘Foreword’ to The Poems and Aphorisms of Mário Quintana, sel., trans. & intro. by Giovanni Pontiero (published here). On James Higgins, see Studies in Latin American Literature and Culture in Honour of James Higgins, ed. Stephen Hart & William Rowe, with an intro. by William Rowe, BHS Special Issue (Liverpool: Liverpool U. P., 2005), 1–5. On Ann Mackenzie, see Don W. Cruickshank & Victor Dixon, with C. Alex Longhurst, ‘Introduction. Ann L. Mackenzie, Scholar and Editor’, in Theatre, Culture and History in Spain: Studies and Researches in Honour of Ann L. Mackenzie, ed. James Whiston & Ceri Byrne, with Jeremy Robbins, BSS, XCII:8–10 (2015), 3–25.

49 Murdo J. MacLeod (graduated from Glasgow University in 1958) completed his doctorate at the University of Florida in 1962. He taught at the Universities of Pittsburgh and Arizona, and then at the University of Florida, where from 2005 he has been Graduate Research Professor Emeritus. MacLeod has specialized in Central American socio-economic history. Among numerous studies, he has published an influential monograph on Spanish Central America: A Socioeconomic History, 1530–1720 (Berkeley/Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press, 1973; rev. ed., Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, 2008). To name just two others: James Maharg and John Walker both specialized in Latin-American literature and culture, and became Professors of Latin-American Studies, Maharg at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and Walker at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Among their major publications are: James Maharg, A Call to Authenticity: The Essays of Ezequiel Martínez Estrada (University of Mississippi: Romance Monographs Inc., 1977); John Walker, Metaphysics and Aesthetics in the Works of Eduardo Barrios (London: Tamesis, 1983). Both Maharg and Walker are mentioned in letters from Atkinson to Ann Mackenzie (1965–1967); reproduced below.

50 For Atkinson’s vivid recollections of his different visits to Latin America, see ‘1962–: Brave New World’; and his ‘A Rolling Stone Bows Out’.

51 See the letters (reproduced below) written by Atkinson to Ann Mackenzie, in which he refers to one of his postgraduates who, in the mid 1960s, went out to teach in Southern Rhodesia. His name was John Gillespie, and he died tragically young of a fatal disease before he had time to secure for himself an academic career as a specialist on Portugal.

52 See Atkinson, ‘British and American Universities, Languages, and Area Studies’, published in the South Atlantic Bulletin that year.

53 See Anon. [W. C. Atkinson], ‘In Memoriam’ [of E.A.P.], BSS, XXX:117 (1953), 1–5 (pp. 1–2, 4).

54 See Geoffrey Ribbans, ‘Editorial Note’, BHS, LIX:4 (1972), 432.

55 For an account of the activities of the Institute of Latin-American Studies in its first years under Atkinson’s headship, see W. C. Atkinson, ‘Institute of Latin-American Studies’, 9–11.

56 See William C. Atkinson, ‘What is the True Purpose of a University’, The Fortnightly (June 1952), 83–85. ‘Can the University Survive?/La Universidad—¿puede sobrevivir?’ (lecture delivered during his final tour of Latin America in 1971) is preserved in an unpublished, typescript copy, dated 3 August 1969 in Glasgow University’s Archives. See also ‘What Are Universities For? Some Comments’, The Fortnightly (March 1952), 170–78; ‘The Examiners Examined’, The University Review, 5:2 (1933), 101–06; ‘The University and Society’, The Fortnightly (January 1949), 1–7; ‘University Expansion Brings Academic Decline’, Glasgow Herald, 20 November 1972. See, too, his ‘Letter to the Editor’, Universities Quarterly, 8:1 (1953), 1–5, regarding the trend among undergraduates to take paid employment during vacation time. His students in 1957–1962 had a different point of view on that subject (see McIntyre, ‘Professor William C. Atkinson [WCA]’).

57 For these quotations, see Atkinson, ‘British and American Universities, Languages, and Area Studies’, 4.

58 For this quotation, see Atkinson, ‘The University and Society’, 6.

59 Concerning that new Modern Languages Building, see William C. Atkinson, ‘The Groves of Academe. Modern Languages in University Gardens’, The College Courant (The Journal of the Glasgow University Graduates Association) (Whitsun 1960), 125–29 (p. 129).

60 Atkinson gives some account of this visit to Russia, his role in bringing it about, and its outcomes in his ‘1932–: Glasgow and a Chair’. See also above, Mackenzie, ‘Introduction I. A Festschrift for William Atkinson’; and note 16.

61 See Ann L. Mackenzie & Nicholas G. Round ‘William Christopher Atkinson (1902–1992)’, BHS, LXX:4 (1993), 435–40; see Round’s tribute, Part II, 438–40 (p. 439).

62 See William C. Atkinson, ‘Le Royaume des Ombres fuyantes’ [review-article on Jules Horrent, Le ‘Chanson de Roland’ dans les littératures française et espagnole du moyen âge], BHS, XXVIII:112 (1951), 231–43; ‘Orpheus with His Lute’, BHS, XXVI:103 (1949), 153–63; ‘Cervantes, El Pinciano, and the Novelas ejemplares’, Hispanic Review, XVI:3 (1948), 189–208.

63 See William C. Atkinson, ‘The Enigma of the Persiles’, Cervantes Quatercentenary Number, BSS, XXIV:96 (1947), 242–53; ‘Cervantes, El Pinciano, and the Novelas ejemplares’, 204.

64 See William C. Atkinson, ‘Comparative Literature’, in A Handbook to the Study and Teaching of Spanish, ed. Peers et al., Part II, Chapter X, 151–67 (pp. 151–53).

65 See William C. Atkinson, ‘The Significance of Latin America’, 21 & 23. See also ‘The Idea of Latin America’, The Fortnightly (August 1947), 81–88; ‘The British Council in the Field’ [Latin America], The Nineteenth Century and After (February 1947), 92–98; and ‘Latin America and the Search for Expression’, The Nineteenth Century and After (August 1949), 121–29.

66 William C. Atkinson, Miranda, His Life and Times (London: Venezuelan Embassy, 1950). See also his articles on ‘Francisco de Miranda’, The Fortnightly (April 1950), 218–27, and on ‘Bogotá, 1948’, The Fortnightly (June 1948), 375–84.

67 Atkinson, British Contributions to Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, revised edition, 1974 (for full reference see above, note 33).

68 See William C. Atkinson, ‘Institutions and Law’ [in Portugal], in Portugal and Brazil: An Introduction, Made by Friends of Edgar Prestage and Aubrey Fitz Gerald Bell ‘in piam memoriam’, ed. Harold V. Livermore, with the assistance of William J. Entwistle (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953), 87–106.

69 See William C. Atkinson, ‘Comedias, Tragicomedias and Farças in Gil Vicente’, in Miscelânea de Filologia, Literatura e História Cultural á memória de Francisco Adolfo Coelho, 1847–1919, Boletim de Filologia, X–XI (1949–1950); 2 vols (Lisboa: Centro de Estudos Filológicos, 1950), II, 268–80 (p. 280).

70 Luis Vaz de Camoens, The Lusiads, trans., with an intro., by William C. Atkinson (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1952; reprinted 1973).

71 See William C. Atkinson, ‘An Introduction to Portuguese’, in A Handbook to the Study and Teaching of Spanish, ed. Peers et al., Part IV, Chapter XVI, 268–81; see (iii) ‘Literature’, 276–81 (pp. 278–79); and Atkinson, A History of Spain and Portugal. The Peninsula and Its Peoples: The Pattern of Their Society and Civilization (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1960; reprinted 1961, 1965, 1967, 1970 & 1973); see Chapter 11, ‘Literature and the Arts—II’, 204–14 (p. 211).

72 Quoted from N. J. Lamb’s review of the translation, BHS, XXIX:114 (1952), 115–17.

73 Atkinson refers to these verse-translations of Don Juan Tenorio and El estudiante de Salamanca in his letter of application for the Stevenson Chair of Spanish, 20 February 1932; reproduced below.

74 Atkinson, ‘Translation from Spanish’, in A Handbook to the Study and Teaching of Spanish, ed. Peers et al., Part I, Chapter VI, 88–101.

75 Originally titled Conquista y descubrimiento del Nuevo Reino de Granada de las Indias Occidentales del Mar Océano, y Fundación de la ciudad de Santafé de Bogotá, primera de este reino donde se fundó la Real Audiencia y Cancillería, siendo la cabeza se hizo su arzobispado, this work was known by the popular title of El Carnero, and written c.1636–1638. Atkinson’s translation (see Juan Rodríguez Freile, The Conquest of New Granada, trans., with an intro., by William C. Atkinson, with engravings by Harold Bennett [London: Folio Society, 1961]), was reviewed by J. S. Cummins in BHS, XXXIX:1 (1962), 68.

76 See The Remarkable Life of Don Diego, Being the Autobiography of Diego de Torres Villarroel, trans., with an intro., by William C. Atkinson, with engravings by Harold Bennett (London: Folio Society, 1958); ‘Introduction’, 7–25 (p. 7). For the second quotation, see Peter Russell’s review of Atkinson’s translation, BHS, XXXVIII:2 (1961), 181. The Spanish title of this work is Vida, ascendencia, nacimiento, crianza y aventuras del Dr Don Diego Torres Villarroel, escrita por él mismo; and it was first published in ‘trozos’, between 1743 and 1758.

77 I borrow the phrase ‘guerras dilatadas’ from the work’s original title, which is: Cautiverio feliz del maestro de campo, general Don Francisco Núñez de Pineda y Bascuñán, y razón individual de las guerras dilatadas del reino de Chile. For Atkinson’s translation, see Francisco Núñez de Pineda y Bascuñán, The Happy Captive, trans., with an intro., by William C. Atkinson, with vinyl-cuts by John Lawrence (London: Folio Society, 1977); the translation was evidently based on a nineteenth-century edition (Santiago: Imprenta del Ferrocarril, 1863) of the Cautiverio feliz.

78 William C. Atkinson, Spain: A Brief History (1934); the comment quoted is from Metford, British Contributions to Spanish and Spanish-American Studies, 56.

79 Atkinson, A History of Spain and Portugal; see ‘Introduction’, 11–13 (p. 12).

80 Quotations are from the review by H. G. Koenigsberger, BHS, XXXVII:4 (1960), 245–46. Evidence given of the book's lasting popularity comes from the letter sent by Atkinson to Ann Mackenzie, dated 26 March 1967; reproduced below.

81 Quoted from the back-cover blurb of Atkinson’s A History of Spain and Portugal (1960).

82 See Geoffrey Ribbans, ‘Editorial Note’, BHS, LIX:4 (1972), 432.

83 In the detailed catalogue of Atkinson’s publications she compiled for this Festschrift, Ceri Byrne has included as many of his reviews as she was able to trace. Despite her best endeavours, she would not wish to claim that her list comes close to being complete.

84 Reviewed by Atkinson in BSS, III:11 1926), 144.

85 Atkinson reviewed Joaquín Casalduero, Sentido y forma del ‘Quijote’ (1605–1615), in BHS, XXVI:103 (1949), 180–82; for his review of Helmut Hatzfeld, El ‘Quijote’ como obra de arte del lenguaje, see BHS, XXVII:106 (1950), 113–15.

86 See Atkinson’s review of Braudel’s book, in BHS, XXVIII:111 (1951), 209–12 (p. 209).

87 See John Langdon-Davies, Behind the Spanish Barricades, reviewed in BSS, XIV:54 (1937), 107–09; Franz Borkenau, The Spanish Cockpit. An Eyewitness Account of the Political and Social Conflicts of the Spanish Civil War, reviewed in BSS, XIV:56 (1937), 211–13.

88 Reviewed by Atkinson in BHS, XXVII:105 (1950), 48–50 (p. 50).

89 See his review of Ortega y Gasset, Invertebrate Spain, trans. Mildred Adams, BSS, XV:57 (1938), 74–75 (p. 75). For his comments on Ortega y Gasset in person, see Atkinson, ‘1952–: Around and about a Quincentenary’; and see its notes 4–5.

90 For these reviews by Atkinson, see, on Griera, BHS, XXVII:108 (1950), 261–62; on Moll, BHS, XXIX:116 (1952), 235–36; on Ruiz i Calonja, BHS, XXXII:4 (1955), 242–44.

91 For these reviews see, on Allen’s edition, BHS, XXX:118 (1953), 122; and, on Boxer, BHS, XXX:120 (1953), 235–36 (p. 235).

92 For these reviews, see, on Anderson Imbert, BHS, XXXII:1 (1955), 55–57; on Humphreys, BHS, XXXII:2 (1955), 123; on Pendle, BHS, XXXV:1 (1958), 60–61.

93 For his review of Caldwell’s book, see BHS, XXXIX:3 (1962), 199–200 (p. 200).

94 Most of his books went to Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, where one of his former students, John Walker, was Professor of Latin American Studies.

95 McIntyre recalls Atkinson’s Armstrong Siddeley in his article on ‘Professor William C. Atkinson (WCA)’; see below.

96 See Mackenzie & Round, ‘William Christopher Atkinson (1902–1992)’; see Round, Part II, 439.

97 His memories of Latin America, as previously noted, are recorded in ‘1962–: A Brave New World’ and in ‘A Rolling Stone Bows Out’, an essay focused particularly on his farewell lecture tour in 1971. Atkinson also recalled his career in a talk titled ‘Charla de despedida de un hispanista’ which he gave on the radio for the BBC Spanish Service; the annotated typescript of this talk, recorded 30 April 1974, is preserved in Glasgow University’s Archives.

98 Quoted from The Remarkable Life of Don Diego, trans. & intro. Atkinson. See Atkinson, ‘Epilogue: Summary Account of the Author’s Declining Years’, 209–23 (p. 209).

99 Two tributes were delivered at this ‘Service of Thanksgiving’: one by Ann L. Mackenzie, then Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at Liverpool University, and a former student of Atkinson; the other, read by Paul Donnelly, Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at Glasgow University, was written by Atkinson’s successor in the Stevenson Chair of Hispanic Studies, Nicholas G. Round. The tributes were subsequently revised and published in the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies (see above, note 61).

100 In suggesting that two ‘men’ could be needed to replace him, Atkinson reminded the Secretary to the University Court that he was retiring not only from the Stevenson Chair of Hispanic Studies but also as Director of the Institute of Latin-American Studies. It did not seem to occur to Atkinson (and in 1971 why would it?) that his successor, or successors, might not be a ‘man, or men’. Dr Hutcheson’s letter and Atkinson’s reply (dated 28 October 1971) are preserved in Glasgow University’s Archives.

Interestingly, in a postscript to his letter to Hutcheson, Atkinson recalls that in 1932 his competitor for the Stevenson Chair of Spanish (as it was then known) had been Edward Wilson (who at the time was only twenty-six!) He mentions, too, that Wilson was due to retire from the Chair of Spanish at Cambridge one year after him—i.e., in 1973.

* Disclosure Statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.