I should like to first offer sincere condolences to Merle Williams and her two sons on the passing of our colleague, Michael Williams. I bring this message on behalf of my colleagues at the English Academy of Southern Africa, the Council and the general membership. The Academy has been unusually blessed with Michael as the long-serving editor of our flagship publication, The English Academy Review. There are no words to thank Michael adequately for his support, mentorship and collegiality when we both co-edited the journal. Michael had extraordinary talents as an editor and was a brilliant wordsmith. He was dedicated to quality and remained patient and calm in spite of publication deadlines and demanding situations as his objective was to ensure that the highest standards were maintained in every edition. I am still amazed at his significant insights on a wide repertoire of writings. More importantly, he went the extra mile to nurture younger authors and novice researchers and this has contributed significantly to the growth and transformation of the journal. Michael was very generous with his intellect and time. I remember our long telephonic discussions on the merits of an article and how he graciously edited and enhanced contributions that he felt should be included, a caring and developmental stance towards first attempts at writing journal articles, especially among postgraduate students. He held noble values concerning the role of language and literature and cautioned us gently to nuance our responses to difficult authors and to consider the sensitivities of controversial interpretations of writings, especially in a country which is seeking to do justice to a variety of identities.
We will remember Michael for his brilliant editorials and essays. He had a knack of bringing articles together in an edition by magically conjuring a theme that held the center together. I still marvel at themes like “Imbalance, inequality, injustice”; “Returns and reassessments”; and “A sense of place”. An example of his radical intellectualism is the insightful essay, “Visionaries and Sceptics: Tom Paine and some contemporaries” that traced patterns by which a profound skepticism about aspects of the present can lead to a vision of a recuperative future; and for good measure he drew interesting parallels with Jane Austen. The quintessential Michael emerges in the analysis of Paine, whether writing about the plight of the American colonists in 1776, or about the French revolution, he expresses a profound contempt for present and past tyrannies, coupled with the sense of a bright future once these tyrannies are removed.
I remember with respect the singular privilege and wonderful experience working with Michael as editor. We shared a warm friendship and an amazing collegiality. I am indebted to him for all that I learnt about editing, the most important lesson being humility.
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to
climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
Khalil Gibran
Rajendra Chetty
President: English Academy of Southern Africa
Michael William’s funeral will take
place at 14:00 on Tuesday 7 December, at St Francis of Assisi Anglican
Church in Parkview, Johannesburg. Here is the link to the live streaming of the
service on YouTube.
