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Cox contributes to overview of contemporary British mystery writers

Amy Gage
May 5, 2003

Professor Emeritus J. Randolph Cox, a reference librarian for 34 years at St. Olaf College, contributed an entry to the new volume of the Dictionary of Literary Biography covering "British Mystery and Thriller Writers Since 1960." His contribution is a survey and analysis of the writings of Robert Barnard, a current popular and prolific writer of mystery novels and short stories. Cox met Barnard 20 years ago in Norway when the latter was teaching English literature at the University of Tromso and has followed his career ever since.

Cox also served as government documents librarian during his career at St. Olaf, which spanned 1962 to 1996. He taught popular-culture courses (detective fiction, Sherlock Holmes) during the January interim and was a tutor in the Paracollege. In April, he attended the annual joint conference of the American Culture Association and Popular Culture Association, held this year in New Orleans. He chaired one session and read a paper, "Jesse James Rides Again: The Legendary Outlaw of the Dime Novels," which was illustrated with slides from his own collection and items from the George Hess Collection at the University of Minnesota Library.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.