Tribute to David Paroissien, Long-time DS Member and Former DQ Editor

 

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 David Paroissien died peacefully, reading a book at ten in the evening on 8 September 2021, at his home in Oxford. He leaves behind his lovely wife Miriam, and his children Catherine, Edwin, and Margery, along with countless friends. He also leaves fond memories in the minds and hearts of those many fortunate enough to know him. And David leaves behind major accomplishments, having helped to transform the world of Dickens—not just the world of Dickens scholarship--making it bigger, better, and more inclusive. His legacy is an astonishing one: his gifts to all who are likely to read these words, and to countless others, are incalculable.David taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst from 1968 to 2001, and ran the Oxford study abroad program for many years. His scholarship was solid, imaginative, lucid, and jargon-free. David edited a useful one-volume Selected Letters of Charles Dickens, and published his excellent Oliver Twist: An Annotated Bibliography (both in 1986). With Susan Shatto, David served as General Editor for the useful series of Companions for each of Dickens’s novels, writing the Oliver Twist and Great Expectations volumes himself (1992, 2000). He edited the Penguin Mystery of Edwin Drood (2002), and A Companion to Charles Dickens (2008).A founding member of the Dickens Society, David edited Dickens Quarterly for nearly forty years, from its first issue in 1983 until 2020. David edited Dickens Studies Newsletter, the Quarterly’s forerunner, as well, from 1979 to 1983. He displayed great generosity, skill, and tact in editing: he was a wonderful collaborator, able to bring out the best in the work of contributors. He attracted contributions to the Quarterly from the most distinguished scholars in the field, and at the same time he was always eager to encourage emerging talent.David’s work for the Dickens Society did not stop with his editorial work on the Quarterly. He cultivated trustees and officers of the Society who would lead in helpful directions, just as he worked with excellent review editors, bibliographers, and editorial staff. David took the time to ensure that the editorship of Dickens Quarterly would be in highly capable hands when he stepped down: Dickens Quarterly and the Society are both well-positioned for continuing success in the coming decades.David’s hand was steady at the tiller, but he was always ready to listen to good new ideas, and to change course when necessary. Many of his thoughtful decisions, for which he invariably sought the support of the Society’s membership, helped put the Dickens Society on a solid financial footing, and ensured that we more effectively live up to our expressed ideals. David supported breaking the Society away from the annual MLA convention, when we inaugurated the annual Dickens Symposium in 1996. Later, David suggesting that our convivial gatherings might frequently cross the Atlantic, rather than always taking place in the United States and Canada, and he showed others how it might be done by generously hosting one such symposium himself, in Oxford.David was always ready to help a friend, an acquaintance, or a person unknown, behind the scenes: he was generous to the many who sought his advice about Dickens matters, answering children’s basic questions about Dickens, and offering suggestions to experts and major collectors.David was, as Sydney Carton says of Jarvis Lorry in A Tale of Two Cities, “steadily and constantly occupied; trusted, respected, and looked up to.” Kind, funny, keenly perceptive, with a humane sensitivity to injustice, David embodied the best of Dickens. We are all lucky to have been touched by his life, and our hearts go out to his family.—Joel J. Brattin 

The following picture of David and Miriam Paroissien was provided by Lillian Nayder:

The following picture of John Drew, Coro Drew-Lopez, and David Paroissien in Northampton, 2008, was provided by Catherine Waters:The following picture of Miriam and David Paroissien from October 2020 was provided by Trey Philpotts - original inspiration from American Gothic (1930) by Grant Wood obligingly posted:.