W. Austin Flanders, English professor 1964-99

W. Austin Flanders, professor of English literature 1964-1999, died July 29 at age 81.

Wallace Austin Flanders was born in Wrightsville, Georgia, and earned his bachelor’s degree from Emory University, master’s degree from Columbia University and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.

He joined the Pitt faculty as an assistant professor in 1964 and was promoted to associate in 1969. He taught graduate seminars on 18th-century British literature and an array of undergraduate literature courses. He was the author of “Structures of Experience: History, Society, and Personal Life in the 18th Century British Novel” (1984), contributed to the book “Daniel Defoe: A Collection of Critical Essays” (1975) and served on the editorial board of “Eighteenth Century Life.”

Flanders retired as a professor in May 1999.

He was the husband of the late Jane Townend Flanders. He is survived by his children, Garth and Sarah, and grandchildren Nicholas, Peter and Gabriel.