author
Richard Lockwood
A deeply admired Rutgers professor, he brought classical rhetoric and seventeenth-century French literature to life with unusual creativity and warmth. His work is remembered for asking what texts do to readers, not just what they mean.
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About the author
Richard D. “Rick” Lockwood was a scholar of classical rhetoric and seventeenth-century French literature who taught for many years at Rutgers University. Colleagues remembered him as a uniquely creative teacher and a beloved longtime chair of the French Department.
His best-known book, The Reader’s Figure (1996), explored epideictic rhetoric in writers from Plato and Aristotle to Bossuet, Racine, and Pascal. Rutgers describes the study as a major contribution to rhetorical studies, especially for the way it focuses on reading as an active encounter between text and reader.
Lockwood is also remembered for the generosity and originality he brought to academic life. In memorial tributes from Rutgers, he stands out not only as a distinguished specialist, but as the kind of teacher and colleague whose influence lasted well beyond the classroom.