06 Aug 2014 Hendrix professor edits edition of 'The Compleat Angler'

Hendrix College Professor of English Dr. Marjorie Swann recently edited a new edition of Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler that was published this spring by Oxford University Press.

First printed in 1653, The Compleat Angler is the most famous book about outdoor recreation ever published. Both a manual of instruction in the fine art of fishing and a celebration of the natural world, The Compleat Angler has been so popular with generations of outdoors enthusiasts that it is the most frequently reprinted book in the English language after the King James Bible.

Swann’s new edition of The Compleat Angler, which emphasizes Walton’s continued relevance as a pioneering environmental writer, has received strong reviews in publications ranging from the Times Literary Supplement to Trout Fisherman. Swann is now writing a book about Walton’s Angler and its post-17th-century afterlives. She will be the keynote speaker at the Izaak Walton League of America convention this summer in Anaheim, Calif.

A native of St. Joseph Island, Canada, Swann earned her doctorate from Oxford University. Her research focuses on 17th-century English literature and culture and how literature is related to environmental history. Prior to joining the Hendrix faculty, Swann taught at Southern Methodist University and the University of Kansas.