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Josephine Waters Bennett

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Josephine Waters Bennett
President of the Renaissance Society of America
In office
1963–1964
Personal details
Born(1899-01-15)January 15, 1899
Lakeside, Ohio, U.S.
DiedDecember 31, 1975(1975-12-31) (aged 76)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Spouse
Roger E. Bennett
​
(died 1968)​
AwardsGuggenheim Fellow (1944 and 1955)
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisRenaissance neoplatonism in the poetry of Edmund Spenser (1936)
Doctoral advisorMilton O. Percival
Academic work
Sub-disciplineEnglish literature in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Institutions

Josephine Waters Bennett (January 15, 1899 – December 31, 1975) was an American literary academic who was president of the Renaissance Society of America from 1963 to 1964. A Guggenheim Fellow, she wrote the books The Evolution of The Faerie Queene (1942), The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville (1954), and 'Measure for Measure' as Royal Entertainment (1966), and she worked as professor at Hunter College.

Biography

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She was born on January 15, 1899, in Lakeside, Ohio.[1] Born to Josephine Kelly and Ralph Leicester Waters, Bennett also had a sister.[2]

She studied at Ohio State University, where she got her BA in 1924 and her MA in 1925,[3] before working as an assistant instructor in English from 1927 to 1928.[1] After studying at Radcliffe College (1928-1931) and working as an English instructor at Tufts College (1930-1931) and the University of Tennessee (1932),[1] she returned to Ohio State to get her PhD in 1936.[3] Her doctoral dissertation Renaissance neoplatonism in the poetry of Edmund Spenser was supervised by Milton O. Percival.[4] Working simultaneously under her previous position at Ohio State, she was promoted to instructor in 1936.[1]

In 1942, she started working at Hunter College as an instructor in English.[1] She also worked at City University of New York.[3] After serving as its first executive director, she was president of the Renaissance Society of America from 1963 to 1964.[5][3] She also went to University of Illinois Chicago as a visiting professor.[6]

Bennett specialized in English literature. In 1942, she published The Evolution of The Faerie Queene, a study of the Edmund Spenser epic poem.[3] In 1954, she published another book, a study on Mandeville's Travels titled The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville[3] During the later part of her career, she became interested in Shakespearean studies, with her next book 'Measure for Measure' as Royal Entertainment (1966) being on the aforementioned play.[3][6] In addition to writing books, she was editor of a 1941 edition of Thomas Blenerhasset's A Revelation of the True Minerva, Much Ado for the Pelican Shakespeare and The Pelican Shakespeare, as well as the first editor of the journal Renaissance News.[1][3][6]

She was a 1934-1935 American Association of University Women Dorothy Bridgman Atkinson Fellow.[1] In 1944, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to do work on "a book on the cultural development of England from the time of Chaucer to the death of Sir Thomas More".[1] She received another Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955.[1]

She was married to Harvard University professor Roger E. Bennett until his death in 1968.[3]

Bennett died on December 31, 1975, in Washington, D.C., where she was doing research on the Shakespeare's sonnets at the Folger Shakespeare Library, reportedly "of a stroke in her sleep" at a hotel.[3][6] She was 75.[3] At the time of her death, she was a resident of Sandwich, Illinois.[3]

Biography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Josephine W. Bennett". Guggenheim Fellowships. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  2. ^ "Push fishing derby". News Herald. January 16, 1976. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Freeman, William M. (January 3, 1976). "Josephine Waters Bennett Dies; Scholar of English Renaissance". The New York Times. p. 19. ProQuest 122973304.
  4. ^ Abstracts of Doctoral Dissertations: Volumes 21-23. Ohio State University Graduate School. 1937. p. 1937.
  5. ^ "RSA Presidents". Renaissance Society of America. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d E.S.D. (1975). "In Memoriam: Josephine Waters Bennett". Renaissance Quarterly. 28 (4): 742–743. ISSN 0034-4338. JSTOR 2860176.
  7. ^ Bush, Douglas (1943). "Review of The Evolution of "The Faerie Queene."". Modern Language Notes. 58 (7): 564–566. doi:10.2307/2911081. ISSN 0149-6611. JSTOR 2911081.
  8. ^ Renwick, W. L. (1944). "Review of The Evolution of 'The Faerie Queene.'". The Review of English Studies. 20 (79): 237–239. doi:10.1093/res/os-XX.79.237. ISSN 0034-6551. JSTOR 509108.
  9. ^ Sandison, Helen E. (1943). "Review of The Evolution of "The Faerie Queene"". Modern Philology. 40 (4): 358–359. doi:10.1086/388592. ISSN 0026-8232. JSTOR 434148.
  10. ^ Wurtzbaugh, Jewel (1944). Bennett, Josephine Waters (ed.). "How Spenser Worked". The South Central Bulletin. 4 (1): 3. doi:10.2307/1571737. ISSN 0038-321X. JSTOR 1571737.
  11. ^ Blaess, Madeleine (1955). "Review of The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville". The Modern Language Review. 50 (3): 326–327. doi:10.2307/3719776. hdl:2027/mdp.39015005452985. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3719776.
  12. ^ D'Evelyn, Charlotte (1955). "Review of The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville". The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 54 (3): 413–416. ISSN 0363-6941. JSTOR 27706610.
  13. ^ Penrose, Boies (1954). "Review of The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 48 (4): 425–427. doi:10.1086/pbsa.48.4.24299627. ISSN 0006-128X. JSTOR 24299627.
  14. ^ Souers, Philip W. (1956). "Review of The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville". Comparative Literature. 8 (2): 161–164. doi:10.2307/1768619. ISSN 0010-4124. JSTOR 1768619.
  15. ^ Wilson, R. M. (1955). "Review of The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville". The Review of English Studies. 6 (23): 305–306. doi:10.1093/res/VI.21.305. ISSN 0034-6551. JSTOR 511219.
  16. ^ Clark, Earl John (1967). "Review of "Measure for Measure" as Royal Entertainment". Books Abroad. 41 (2): 213–214. doi:10.2307/40121669. ISSN 0006-7431. JSTOR 40121669.
  17. ^ Maxwell, Baldwin (1967). "Review of Measure for Measure as Royal Entertainment". Renaissance Quarterly. 20 (2): 264–265. doi:10.2307/2859743. ISSN 0034-4338. JSTOR 2859743.
  18. ^ Nosworthy, J. M. (1969). "Review of 'Measure for Measure' as Royal Entertainment". The Modern Language Review. 64 (1): 135–136. doi:10.2307/3723657. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3723657.
  19. ^ R., J. (1967). "Review of "Measure for Measure" as Royal Entertainment". Prairie Schooner. 41 (1): 90–91. ISSN 0032-6682. JSTOR 40603764.
  20. ^ Wells, Stanley (1968). "Review of Measure for Measure as Royal Entertainment". The Review of English Studies. 19 (73): 67–68. doi:10.1093/res/XIX.73.67. ISSN 0034-6551. JSTOR 512146.
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