Silverstein, Theodore

Theodore Silverstein (October 11, 1904 – September 1, 2001) was a British-born American scholar of medieval literature. His focuses for research included Middle English poetry and medieval poetry in general; Dante's The Divine Comedy; the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; and the 4th-century Apocalypse of Paul (Visio Pauli), a popular and influential work in the Middle Ages. Silverstein initially taught at the University of Kansas City. He then served in the United States Army Air Forces as an intelligence officer from 1942 to 1945 during World War II, specializing in interrogating captured German and Italian pilots and analyzing intercepted Luftwaffe communications. He was a Professor of English at the University of Chicago from 1947 to 1973, after which he took emeritus status.