DOCTORATE IN ENGLISH

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29299, 2 September 1960, Page 13

DOCTORATE IN ENGLISH

Distinction For Lecturer

The rare distinction of a doctorate of philosouphy in English from the University of New Zealand has been gained by Mr R. A. Copland, a lecturer in English at the University of Canterbury. A graduate .of the university, where he gained his M.A. degree with equivalent first-class honours in English in 1948, Mr Copland is believed to be the first New Zealand student to gain such an honour, and is certainly the first graduate of Canterbury University to do so.

Mr Copland recently completed his oral examination for his doctorate before Professor I. A. Gordon, professor of English at Victoria University, and Mr Kenneth Allott, a visiting lecturer from England.

The subject of Mr Copland’s written thesis was “Literary Reactions to Utilitarianism up to 1860.” This embraced a study of the figures of the Oxford movement, especially Newman, and also of Carlyle, and the literary trends they began as reflected in the writings of Disraeli, Peacock, and Kingsley. Mr Copland was born in Feilding. and educated at the Napier Boys’ High School. He had completed three years’ study

for his B.A. degree at Canterbury University when World War II broke out, and he left for overseas with the Royal New Zealand Air Force. In 1945, while serving as a navigator in Britain, Mr Copland completed French HI, his final unit for his 8.A., by having the examination papers posted to him from New Zealand. On returning to Christchurch, Mr Copland decided to specialise in English, and graduated M.A. in that subject in 1948, taking up his lectureship at Canterbury University the next year.

For many years, Mr Copland has written short stories in the “Listener” under the pen name of “Augustus,” and has also contributed literary reviews in that journal and the quarterly “Landfall.”

In his spare time, he is an amateur builder and bricklayer, and also enjoys a game of chess. Another favourite recreation is “having people round” for literary discussions. Mr Copland is married, with three children, aged 12, 10, and six. He had no intention of seeking any university post overseas. preferring to remain in Christchurch, he said yesterday.