From Richard: Auteur House lost one of its oldest and most loyal customers on Friday night. For many years Professor of English at Waikato University, Marshall Walker taught me in my first year as an undergraduate and in recent times, even when in failing health, he was an unstinting patron of the store. The industrious manner in which he bore his final illness was inspirational. Here are some impressions: Marshall Walker was the finest orator Ive ever seen. In our three decade association I only experienced his talent in a formal capacity a handful of times yet each of these left an indelible impression. Whether lecturing a first year class on poetry and Dickens, delivering a keynote address at the outset of an academic conference, eulogising a dead colleague or speaking at his own final book launch early last year, Marshall proved himself to be so much more than a gentleman and a scholar. His vocabulary and grasp of language and expression were beyond that of mortal men yet he tempered them with warmth, wit and a rich sense of humanity. This was no arid professor lost in books and manuscripts. Marshall was a man who believed in the redemptive possibilities of art, be it music or literature. A couple of years ago we were discussing the Ingmar Bergman film Fanny & Alexander. Marshall had not seen the longer, five hour version of this masterpiece and when he returned to me he articulated a thought that had crossed my mind also. It was a privilege to watch that, he said, in his wonderful Scottish brogue. Any who had the good fortune to know or spend time with Marshall were equally privileged. In Swiftian terms he was a Brobdingnagian in a world of Lilliputians. An output of three books in the last five or so years point also to an individual who coped with illness with bravery and fortitude. There was much worthwhile raging against the dying of the light.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 04:36:41 +0000
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