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Fonds Level Description

Accession Number: 18-006

Title

Professor Peter Royle fonds. -- ca. 1969-2017. -- 24 cm of textual records; digital files.

BIOGRAPHY/HISTORY

Professor Peter Royle was born in Coventry, England in 1934, the only son of James and Doris Royle. He received a Masters degree from Oxford University and a PhD from the University of Natal. A scholar whose research focused on the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Professor Royle taught in the French and Philosophy Departments at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario from 1969 to 1996. He wrote many books, articles, plays, and short stories; a few of these include: L'Enfer et la liberté: Étude de "Huis clos" et des "Mouches" (1973); The Sartre-Camus Controversy. A literary and philosophical critique (1982); L’homme et le néant chez Jean-Paul Sartre (2005); and The Kaffir Killer, a black comedy (2010). The Kaffir Killer was earlier read twice as a radio play on BBC Radio 3 in 1971 and performed in theaters in 1982 and 1986. After retiring from Trent University, Professor Royle, together with his life partner Maren Thomas, lived in Germany and England. He died in England in 2017 and is survived by Maren Thomas and his two daughters, Eleanor Royle and Frances Royle (Roger Brush), both of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

Fonds is comprised of published and unpublished books, plays, short stories, articles, and essays written by Professor Peter Royle. Included are hard copy manuscripts and notes, as well as several digital files.

NOTES

Copies of books by Professor Royle were also received with this donation; these have been catalogued and added to the Trent Collection in Special Collections.

Custodial History: This fonds, created by Professor Peter Royle, was in the custody of Maren Thomas before being donated to Trent University Archives in 2018.

Condition: Excellent

Immediate Source: Fonds acquired from Maren Thomas in 2018.

Fonds Arrangement: Fonds processed using folder labeling as received.

Restrictions: N

FINDING AID

BOX 1

Folder

1. Play: The Atom Who Yearned to be a Molecule
2. Play: Crime in Paradise
3. Play: Gamblers
4. Play: The Gaming Game
5. Play: The Hypocrites’ Theatre
6. Play: The Kaffir Killer
7. Play: The Liberation of Phaedra
8. Play: Love and war at Mount Banks U
9. Play: Phaedra
10. Play: The Prospect
11. Play: Three Days in the Half-Life of a Plutocrat

BOX 2

Folder

1. Novel: Isthmus
2. Novel: A Stranger in the World of Allah
3. Notes, ideas and poetry
4. Essays
5. Political essays
6. Short stories
7. Entries in the Dictionary of Existentialism – published
8. Publications
9. Copies of published articles
10. Synopses of novels

Digital records

Note: The digital records are comprised primarily of manuscripts by Peter Royle that were typed into digital format by Maren Thomas between 1996 and 2017; these records are listed below:

Peter Royle – Biographical

Biography with photo 2012 03 07

Information re the author for public release

Essays by Peter Royle

Arab-Israeli Conflict 2009 01 27

Everything is a Wolf 2010 07 21

Punishment

Republic and Monarchy

Sartre and Football 2009 03 30

Sartre on Evil

The Pot and the Kettle – Excerpt from Chucker, McKiller and Di

Novels by Peter Royle