Charles Muscatine
Encyclopedia
Charles Muscatine was an academic specialising in medieval literature
, particularly Chaucer. He participated in the D-day landing on Omaha Beach
and was fired by UC Berkeley for refusing to sign a McCarthyite oath. He challenged the termination in court and won reinstatement to his position at Berkeley in a landmark 1951 court decision.
and grew up in Trenton
. He studied English at Yale and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, participating in the D-day
landing on Omaha Beach
. After the war he returned to Yale to take a doctorate. He joined the English department at UC Berkeley in 1948.
Muscatine and others who were dismissed challenged the action in court and ultimately won a landmark victory when the California Court of Appeal in April 1951 ordered the University of California to reinstate the fired academics. In its decision, the Court of Appeal wrote:
Muscatine taught at Wesleyan University
before being reinstated in 1952.
His contributions to medieval studies include Chaucer and the French Tradition: A Study in Style and Meaning (University of California Press, 1957), The Book of Geoffrey Chaucer, The Old French Fabliaux, and Poetry and Crisis in the Age of Chaucer. He also published extensively on the issues facing third-level education, including Fixing College Education: A New Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century, completed shortly before his death.
David Lawton, the executive director of the New Chaucer Society, said of Chaucer and the French Tradition: "It remains astonishingly undated. The sheer quality of Muscatine’s reading continues to set an almost impossibly high standard, and virtually single-handedly he opened up Chaucer studies to France and Chaucer’s secular, French heritage. There has been a huge growth in this field, most of it following along the routes he made."
Charles Muscatine died of a lung
infection
in Oakland, California
on 12 March 2010. His wife Doris, died in 2006; he is survived by his daughter Lissa, a speechwriter and adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his son Jeffrey and six grandchildren.
Medieval literature
Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages . The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works...
, particularly Chaucer. He participated in the D-day landing on Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...
and was fired by UC Berkeley for refusing to sign a McCarthyite oath. He challenged the termination in court and won reinstatement to his position at Berkeley in a landmark 1951 court decision.
Background
Muscatine was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and grew up in Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
. He studied English at Yale and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, participating in the D-day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
landing on Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...
. After the war he returned to Yale to take a doctorate. He joined the English department at UC Berkeley in 1948.
Loyalty oath controversy
Shortly after he was hired, the State of California began enforcing a state law requiring public employees to sign a loyalty oath, and more than 11,000 University of California employees signed rather than risk losing their jobs. Muscatine was one of 31 academics who refused to sign the loyalty oath, and he was fired for his refusal. Muscatine later explained his rationale in refusing to sign the loyalty oath:"I felt that in the first place it was a violation of the oath to the U.S. Constitution that I had already taken. And secondly it was a violation of academic freedom, which is the idea that in a free society scholars and teachers are allowed to express and believe anything that they feel to be true. As a young assistant professor, I had been insisting to the kids that you stick to your guns and you tell it the way you see it and you think for yourself and you express things for yourself and I felt that I couldn't really justify teaching students if I weren't behaving the same way. So I simply couldn't sign the oath."
Muscatine and others who were dismissed challenged the action in court and ultimately won a landmark victory when the California Court of Appeal in April 1951 ordered the University of California to reinstate the fired academics. In its decision, the Court of Appeal wrote:
"Any other conclusion would be to approve that which from the beginning of our government has been denounced as the most effective means by which one special brand of political or economic philosophy can entrench and perpetuate itself to the eventual exclusion of all others; the imposition of any more inclusive test would be the forerunner of tyranny and oppression. ... While this court is mindful of the fact that the action of the regents was at the outset undoubtedly motivated by a desire to protect the university from the influences of subversive elements dedicated to the overthrow of our constitutional government and the abolition of our civil liberties, we are also keenly aware that equal to the danger of subversion from without by means of force and violence is the danger of subversion from within by the gradual whittling away and the resulting disintegration of the very pillars of our freedom."
Muscatine taught at Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
before being reinstated in 1952.
Scholarship
In 1966, as head of the UC Berkeley Academic Senate-appointed Committee on Educational Policy, he presided over an influential report that called for increased diversity in educational programs available to students.His contributions to medieval studies include Chaucer and the French Tradition: A Study in Style and Meaning (University of California Press, 1957), The Book of Geoffrey Chaucer, The Old French Fabliaux, and Poetry and Crisis in the Age of Chaucer. He also published extensively on the issues facing third-level education, including Fixing College Education: A New Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century, completed shortly before his death.
David Lawton, the executive director of the New Chaucer Society, said of Chaucer and the French Tradition: "It remains astonishingly undated. The sheer quality of Muscatine’s reading continues to set an almost impossibly high standard, and virtually single-handedly he opened up Chaucer studies to France and Chaucer’s secular, French heritage. There has been a huge growth in this field, most of it following along the routes he made."
Charles Muscatine died of a lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
infection
Infection
An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
on 12 March 2010. His wife Doris, died in 2006; he is survived by his daughter Lissa, a speechwriter and adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his son Jeffrey and six grandchildren.