Denys Campion Potts

Denys Campion Potts (17 March 1923 – 11 May 2016) was a scholar and authority on French literature.[1][2][3] His obituary in The Daily Telegraph stated that he ‘shared with the authors he studied their belief in reason as well as their penchant for irony’.[1]

Dr. Denys Campion Potts
Born(1923-03-17)17 March 1923
Died11 May 2016(2016-05-11) (aged 93)
NationalityBritish
EducationSt John's School, Leatherhead
Alma materBrasenose College, Oxford
OccupationAcademic

Life

Denys Campion Potts was born in Salford on 17 March 1923.[2] He was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, where he was strong in mathematics and was introduced to classical music, a lasting pleasure in his life.[2] He later read mathematics at Brasenose College, Oxford.[2]

Potts graduated in 1944 and, on the recommendation of C. P. Snow, he was recruited by Rolls Royce to carry out his war service, utilising his mathematical abilities.[2] He was not convinced that industry or mathematics were attractive career paths so he chose to return to Brasenose to study Modern Languages having taken a crammer in French.[2] His interview for the course was conducted by Robert Shackleton in a Paris café.[2] Potts subsequently completed the Modern Languages degree in two years, graduating with a First in 1949, and immediately began a doctorate as a Senior Hulme Scholar spending a year as a lecturer at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.[2]

Potts's specialism was the French Enlightenment and his doctorate focussed on the work of Charles de Saint-Évremond.[2][4] Having completed his doctorate, Potts became a Besse Fellow at Keble College, Oxford where he focussed on French authors of the 17th and 18th centuries and wrote French Thought Since 1600 with D.G. Charlton.[2] Unusually, at the time, he also lectured on 20th century French poetry and the Nouveau roman.[2]

Potts remained at Keble until his retirement in 1989 having also served as Dean and Sub-Warden at the college.[2] Potts was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan.[2]

Potts retained a lifelong interest in classical music and in 1950 he befriended the French composer Joseph Canteloube, and was present at the first recording of Chants d'Auvergne.[2] At Oxford he was President of the Gramophone Society.[2] After he retired, Potts travelled with his wife and enjoyed his love of opera. His enduring interest in Charles de Saint-Évremond led him to edit a further book of the essayist's letters.[5]

Potts married Doraine (née Truscott) with whom he had two sons and two daughters.[2]

Selected bibliography
  • French Thought Since 1600, by Denys Campion Potts and D.G. Charlton. Published by Methuen, London, 1979[6]
  • Bayle, by Elisabeth Labrousse and Denys Campion Potts. Published by Oxford University Press, 1983[7]
  • Eluard: Capitale de la Douleur : A Selection of Critical Articles, by Denys Campion Potts. Published in the 1970s[8]
  • Saint Évremond And Seventeenth-Century Libertinage, by Denys Campion Potts. Ph. D. published by the University of Oxford, 1962[4]
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References
  1. Obituary in The Daily Telegraph, Denys Potts, scholar - obituary, May 27, 2016
  2. "Denys Potts, scholar – obituary". May 27, 2016 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  3. "Potts, Denys C. (Denys Campion) [WorldCat Identities]".
  4. Saint Evremond and seventeenth-century libertinage. February 20, 1962. OCLC 1063559332.
  5. Saint-Évremond, Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis de; Gouville, Lucie de Cotentin de Tourville; Hautefeuille, Jean de; Potts, Denys Campion (February 20, 2001). Saint-Evremond: a voice from exile: newly discovered letters to Madame de Gouville and the abbé de Hautefeuille (1697-1701). Legenda. OCLC 845889568.
  6. Potts, Denys Campion; Charlton, D. G (February 20, 1979). French thought since 1600. Methuen. OCLC 19292884.
  7. Labrousse, Élisabeth; Potts, Denys Campion (February 20, 1983). Bayle. Oxford University Press. OCLC 898770100.
  8. Potts, Denys C (February 20, 1970). Eluard: capitale de la douleur : a selection of critical articles. publisher not identified. OCLC 863270556.
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