David Wallace
Judith Rodin Professor of English
David Wallace is a medievalist who looks forward to the early modern period; he works on English and Italian matters with additional interests in French, German, women’s writing, romance, “discovery” of the Americas and the history of slavery, and Europe.
Wallace is a Fellow of the English Association and of the Medieval Academy of America. His primary commitments are to Europe and European literatures, to the performance and enjoyment of poetry (especially Chaucer), and to helping secure a viable future for younger scholars. In 2019 he received the The Sir Israel Gollancz Prize from the British Academy for his lifetime contribution into the study of Chaucer and Medieval Europe.
His current research is primarily on “Medieval Studies in Troubled Times: the 1930s.” He taught a graduate course in Fall 2019 on “Lineages of National Literatures,” cross-listed with Comparative Literature.
His publications include the two-volume Europe: A Literary History; Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Introduction; and Premodern Places: Calais to Surinam, Chaucer to Aphra Behn. He edited The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, and his numerous articles include “Periodizing Women: Mary Ward (1585-1645) and the Premodern Canon” in the Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies.
Wallace received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University
About the Donor
Saul P. Steinberg, W’59
The late Saul P. Steinberg, W'59 was an Emeritus Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and Chair Emeritus of the Board of Overseers at the Wharton School.
