Introduction
Marilyn Speers Butler, Lady Butler, FRSA, FRSL, FBA (née Evans, 11 February 1937 – 11 March 2014) was a British literary critic. She was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge from 1986 to 1993, and Rector of Exeter College, Oxford, from 1993 to 2004.
Early life
She was educated at Wimbledon High School and St Hilda's College, Oxford.
Academic career
Her published works include Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries and Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. Much of her work was devoted to the career of the Anglo-Irish Romantic novelist Maria Edgeworth, including a classic literary biography and an important edition of her collected works for Pickering & Chatto.
Personal life
She was married to David Butler; the couple had three sons.
Death
Marilyn Butler died on 11 March 2014 at the age of 77.
Honours
In June 2003 she was awarded an honorary degree from the Open University as Doctor of the University. Butler was a Fellow of the British Academy.
Works
- Maria Edgeworth: A Literary Biography (1972)
- Jane Austen and the War of Ideas (1975)
- Romantics, Rebels, and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background, 1760-1830 (1982)