Description

Presentation of Festschrift to Professor Malcolm Quainton

Friday 3 October 2008 witnessed a memorable occasion in Lancaster's Institute of Advanced Studies, as present and former colleagues in the Department of European Languages and Cultures and from across the University gathered together with friends and family of Professor Emeritus Malcolm Quainton for the presentation of a Festschrift : 'Writers in Conflict in Sixteenth-Century France', celebrating his outstanding work over many years in the field of French Renaissance studies.

Also present at the celebration were eight of the international team who had contributed chapters to the book; Dr Mike Thompson, General Editor of the Durham Modern Languages Series in which it had appeared; and Dr Elizabeth Vinestock, who, together with the late David Foster, had put the volume together. Presenting 'Writers in Conflict' to Professor Quainton, Dr Vinestock (who like David Foster had completed a Ph. D. under Professor Quainton's supervision) spoke of her gratitude to him for his unstinting support during her research, and of her sadness - shared by all those present - that her co-editor David, a valued and much-loved colleague in DELC, had not lived to see the completion of this project.

Opening the proceedings, Dr Graham Bartram, Head of DELC, had paid tribute to Professor Quainton's tremendous contribution as teacher, researcher and founding Head of the Department to the flourishing of languages at Lancaster, and to the important part that Renaissance Studies continued to play in the Department's research activities. Professor Quainton, having thanked all those present and reflected on his years at the University, brought the speeches to a notably stylish conclusion with a bravura 'rant' of his own composition, on the experience of reaching the age of seventy.