Bernard F. Huppé (1911-1989) was a Medieval English Literature Scholar, and a Professor and Chair of the English Department at Harpur College (later University of Binghamton).

Huppé came to Harpur College in 1950 to teach English. He was invested in Harpur College's liberal arts values, and he served as the Chair of the Humanities Division from 1952-1954. In 1958, he became Chairman of the Graduate Committee, which established the graduate degree program. In 1963, he left the Graduate Committee to become the Chair of the English Deprtment. Then in 1968, he became co-director fo the Center for Medieval and Rennaissance Studies. He was part of the founding of the SUNY Press and served on its publication committee for many years.

Huppé was know for his Augustinian aesthetic analysis of Medieval English literature, especially in analysing the works of Chaucer. The approach was developed to apply a Medieval lense to literature and to understand books in the way that they were understood at the time they were written. He wrote several books using this lense, including A Reading of the Canterbury Tales, Doctrine and Poetry, and Piers Plowman and Scriptural Tradition.

After his retirement in 1981, Huppé turned toward translation, especially creating resources for undergraduate students. In 1984 he published a translation of Beowulf, and then in 1987 he published a student edition. At the time of his death in 1989, he was in the process of publishing translations with commentary on Old English poems for students.

Before coming to Binghamton, Huppé had gotten his PhD at New York University in 1940. He served in World War II as an Army Engineer in 1942-1946. In 1943, he married Marion Lois Mc Master, with whom he had 3 children. In 1945, he taught English at the Shrivenham Army University. In 1946, he became an Assistant Professor in English at Princeton University, where he taught until coming to Binghamton.

In 1981, Huppé retired and moved to Maine, where he continued to write. When his wife, Mary Lois, died, he returned to Binghamton to teach and to write. Huppé died the evening of Thursday, March 2, 1989, after meeting his undergraduate honors class, "The Sacred and Profane Love Machine."

Bibliography Horowitz, S. H., & Eller, A. (1989). In Memoriam: Bernard F. Huppé (1911-89). Old English Newsletter, 22(2), 12. Mediaevalia, 6. (1980). Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton.