Perkins, George
August 16, 1930 -
Place of Birth: Lowell, MA
Place of Principle Residence: Ann Arbor, MI
Biography:
George B. Perkins was born to Gladys and George Perkins in Lowell, MA. He earned his AB at Tufts College in 1953, his MA at Duke University in 1954, and his PhD at Cornell University in 1960. In 1964 George married his wife, Barbara, and the two moved to Edinburgh, Scotland where he worked as a lecturer. Between 1957 and 2001, Perkins has taught or lectured at Washington University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Fairleigh Dickinson University, the University of Edinburgh, Peking University, and Eastern Michigan University. He has co-authored several books with his wife and in addition has written essays, reviews, and fiction in Nineteenth-Century Fiction, The Journal of American Folklore, The Explicator, The Dickensian, Choice, Descant, The New England Quarterly, The Journal of Narrative Technique, Contemporary Novelists, and Great Writers of the English Language. In addition, Perkins was the founding editor of the Journal of Narrative Technique, and after editing twenty-two years switched to the board of Narrative as associate editor. He is a member of the Author’s Guild and the National Books Circle. Today Perkins lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his wife, and has three children: Laura, Suzanne, and Alison.
Selected Works:
- American Tradition in Literature(with Barbara Perkins) (1999)
- Season in South Wales (1998)
- Practical Imagination: Poetry(with Northrop Frye and Sheridan Baker) (1983)
Awards:
- 1994 The annual Barbara Perkins and George Perkins Award for the Best book in Narrative Studies established in his and his wife’s honor by the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature
- Duke University Fellowship, Cornell University Fellowship, Eastern Michigan Univ. Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching, Research and Service; Eastern Michigan Univ. Board of Regents Commendation for Outstanding Contributions and Achievements; Fellow, Inst. for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, U of Edinburgh, Senior Fulbright Scholar, Univ. of Newcastle, Australia
Critical Reception:
Perkins is a respected writer and lecturer, and has won several awards and honors like the Duke University Fellowship and having the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature establish an award for the Best Book in Narrative Studies to honor him and his wife.
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work:
Perkins taught at Eastern Michigan University for thirty-four years, where he helped found the Journal of Narrative Technique, and wrote non-fiction both singularly and as a co-author.