Fonds 2147 - George Wallis Field fonds

George Wallis Field was a scholar and professor of German Literature at Victoria University. He was born in Cobourg, Ontario, and graduated in 1935 from Victoria University with high honours and as a Gold Medal winner.

When the Second World War broke out he joined the Royal Artillery of the British Army in India (1940) serving on the North West Frontier and the Khyber Pass area. As Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded the University of Toronto contingent of the Canadian Officers Training Corps from 1966–1968 and became Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Company of the Canadian Intelligence corps.

After the war, he returned to University of Toronto completing his MA (1945) and PhD (1948). Completing his PhD thesis, Professor Field began his career with Victoria University and edited many scholarly texts in addition to writing numerous articles and translations of German literature and contributing to the Northcott Literary History of Germany series, The Nineteenth Century. Professor Field was most renowned for his scholarly work on Hermann Hesse: Hermann Hesse, Kommentar zu sämtlichen Werken (1977) and by his work on Hesse for the Twayne World Authors series.