Samuel N. Rosenberg, Professor Emeritus of French and Italian, passed away in Bloomington on June 30, 2020 at the age of 84. Professor Rosenberg earned his PhD from Johns Hopkins in 1965, after already serving a few years as Lecturer in the Department of French and Italian at IU. He was hired as Assistant Professor in 1965 and promoted twice to achieve the rank of Full Professor in 1981. He served as the Chair of the Department from 1977 to 1984 and twice served as director of the overseas study program in Strasbourg.
Professor Rosenberg was a specialist in Medieval literature and philology, particularly Old French literature, trouvère poetry and historical narrative. His publications ranged from critical editions such as “Chanter m’estuet”: Songs of the Trouvères. A Critical Anthology of French Lyric Poetry of the 12th and 13th Centuries” (IU Press, 1981) to Harper’s Grammar of French (Harper & Row, 1983, co-author) to translations of Les Chansons by Colin Muset (Paris: Champion, 2005) and poetry by Paul Verlaine (with Nicolas Valazza, Penn State U. Press, 2019).
A more thorough scholarly biography and remembrance is forthcoming for our 2020 alumni newsletter. For his innumerable contributions to the scholarship of medieval literature and the life of the Department, he will be sorely missed.
The College of Arts