Goodrich, Norma Lorre 1917-2006

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born May 10, 1917, in Huntington, VT; died September 19, 2006, in Claremont, CA. Educator, historian, and author. Goodrich was a professor emerita of French and comparative literature who surprised scholars with a book asserting that King Arthur was not a myth but a historical figure who had lived in Scotland. After graduating from the University of Vermont in 1938, she studied at the University of Grenoble for a year before returning home when war loomed over Europe. She taught high school English in Vermont, but after divorcing her first husband in 1946, she decided to return to France. She studied at the Universities of Paris and Caen and became founding director of the American Villa School from 1947 to 1953. Moving to New York City, she taught Latin at the Fieldston School for the next nine years. Goodrich then headed west to the University of Southern California, where she taught French and comparative literature until 1971. Her final academic post was at Scripps College in Claremont, where she was on the faculty until her 1982 retirement. After retiring, she pursued a story that had interested her since she was given a copy of Tennyson's The Idylls of the King at age five. She wished to discover whether King Arthur had been an actual person, so she began to research at the National Library of Paris. She discovered a twelfth-century manuscript that suggested the places referred to in the Arthurian myth were actually located in Scotland, not England or Wales as most supposed. Numerous trips to Scotland and to libraries and other locations, assisted by Goodrich's knowledge of numerous ancient and modern languages, led to the publication of King Arthur (1986). The work challenged all previous scholarship on the legend. She would later follow this with the related titles Merlin (1987), Guinevere (1991), and The Holy Grail (1992). Goodrich was also interested in myths and legends in general, especially as they relate to women and the denigration of female characters. Among her other publications are The Ancient Myths (1960), Giono: Master of Fictional Modes (1973), Priestesses (1989), and Heroines: Demigoddess, Prima Donna, Movie Star (1993).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Washington Post, September 30, 2006, p. B12.