author
Robert Huntington Fletcher
1875–1919
An early-20th-century professor and literary scholar, he wrote clear, student-friendly guides to English literature and Arthurian tradition. His work reflects both deep learning and a practical wish to make big subjects easier to approach.
1 Audiobook
A History of English Literature
by Robert Huntington Fletcher
About the author
Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on February 18, 1875, Robert Huntington Fletcher was an American author, teacher, and professor of English literature. Dartmouth’s archival record says he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1896, later earned an A.M. from Harvard in 1908, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1901.
During his career, he taught in New Hampshire, served as acting professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis after travel in Europe, and later became professor of English literature at Grinnell College in Iowa. He is best remembered for scholarly yet accessible books including The Arthurian Material in the Chronicles and A History of English Literature, a broad survey written for students and general readers.
Fletcher died on June 26, 1919. His surviving work suggests a writer-teacher interested not only in literary history, but in helping readers see how literature connects to the life, culture, and ideas of its time.