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Farewell to WJM

From: <rick1walter~at~comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:47:29 -0400
To: jvf~at~gilead.org.il

Dear friends,

Many, many thanks to Brian for alerting us so promptly to Walter's passing.

Like Brian, like Art, I enjoyed WJM as both dear friend and honored
colleague ... and this was back before the forum, back before NAJVS, back
when Walter, essentially, was the glue that held our tiny Vernian band
together, leading to the vigorous American movement we have today.

Personally, I have to echo Brian's recollections: I remember the time,
place and actual bookstore where I squatted on the floor and pored over his
1965 S & S ed. of 20K ... it was a jolt for me. Then, the following decade,
his two annotated editions yanked me feet first into serious Vernian work.
In the dedication to my recent AMAZING JOURNEYS, I hailed him as "the
father of Verne studies in America." I doubt that anybody will dispute the
justice of that accolade.

And ,as one his spiritual sons, I received several precious gifts from him:
I was privileged to collaborate with him on 4 books, an article, and a
slide talk: his wit, shrewdness, practicality, and professionalism in every
instance will remain among my cherished memories.

In recent months I'd emailed him repeatedly, urging him to send his Crowell
annotated editions of 20K and FTETTM to W. W. Norton for inclusion in their
growing series of annotated classics. I hope he, Brian, or Mary were able
to make some headway on this quest. These are books that should never go
out of print, true classics of literary appreciation.

My heartfelt condolences to Mary and all his loved ones.


Most sincerely,

Frederick Paul Walter
Albuquerque NM


Original Message:
-----------------
From: aevans2 tds.net aevans2~at~tds.net
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:44:09 -0400
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il
Subject: Re: Farewell


The field of Verne studies has just lost one of its giants. Both as a
scholar and as a long-time friend, he will be sorely missed.

Art


On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 8:15 PM, Brian Taves
<briantaves1879~at~yahoo.com>wrote:

> I have just had a call from Walter James Miller's daughter, Naomi, that
> he passed away last night.
>
> His 1965 edition of 20,000 Leagues was responsible for bringing me to an
> intellectual understanding of Verne, and his personal kindness was no less
> meaningful.
>
> It is seldom given to us to actually meet someone whose name we have long
> looked up to, but I had that pleasure during a trip east in 1990. NYU
gave
> me his phone number, and we had lunch the next day. I was fortunate to be
> able to count him as a friend for the next 20 years.
>
> My only wish was that he had lived to know that the NAJVS had already
> decided to dedicate to him our third volume in the Palik Series, The Count
> of Chanteleine. And we are about to begin checking page proofs of the
first
> volume, for which he provided an introduction.
>
> So his legacy, his inspiration, and his scholarship live on.
>
>
> Brian Taves
>
>


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