Edith Devlin Born: September 21st, 1926 Died: July 2nd, 2012
Edith Florence Devlin (nee Gaw), who has died aged 85, was for more than 40 years an outstanding teacher of world literature at Queen’s University Belfast, where she introduced mature students to the classics.
Born on September 21st, 1926, Edith was brought up in the gate lodge of St Patrick’s Hospital Dublin by a militantly atheist father.
She attended the Diocesan School for Girls and Alexandra College, before graduating from Trinity – where she met her future husband, Peter – in 1949 with a first-class degree in English and French.
After moving to Belfast in 1961 she gave tutorials to undergraduates in Queen’s University. In 1969 she presented weekly lectures entitled Love and the Woman Novelist on behalf of Queen’s extramural department (now Open Learning.
Her enthusiasm for such writers as Dickens, Tolstoy, Chekhov and the Bronte sisters was infectious and, due to popular demand, she proceeded to give a different series every year for 43 years, retiring just weeks before her death.
Edith’s Wednesday morning class became a Belfast phenomenon, enrolling more than 400 students annually (and there was always a waiting list). It became the most popular adult education class in Britain and Ireland, attracting students from all walks of life, with many returning year after year.
Edith was committed to the idea of life-long learning. In 1993 she exhorted her young graduands: “In five, 10 years’ time, ask yourself this: ‘when did I last have a new idea?’ If you cannot remember, it is time to apply to the Institute of Open Learning!”
Edith’s focus in her lectures was not on literary theory but on the power of imaginative language to speak directly to each reader’s heart.
Edith published Speaking Volumes in 2000, about her difficult childhood. She lost her mother before her fifth birthday and she and her four siblings were left in the care of a devoted but undemonstrative father.
She was awarded an MBE in 1988, a D Litt from Queen’s University in 1993 and a Woman of Achievement award in 2006.
Edith is survived by her husband, Peter, and her three children, Emma, Jonathan and Peter John.