Seymour B. Chatman

August 30, 1928 - November 4, 2015

Seymour Benjamin Chatman, Professor Emeritus of Rhetoric and Film at the University of California, Berkeley passed away on November 4, 2015 at his home in Berkeley.

Seymour was born on August 30, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan, to William B. and Betty Davis Chatman. He attended Central High School. Seymour was part of a large extended family in the local Jewish community, though his immediate family was small. He lost his father while in his teens and his younger brother Michael while in his twenties. Seymour attended Wayne State University in Detroit, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1948. In 1956, he earned a Ph.D. in English and Literature from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Early in his career, Seymour worked on a State Department translation project at Cornell University and then became a professor on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania.

In the early 1960s, Seymour joined the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a professor in the Rhetoric Department until his retirement in 1993. Seymour helped to establish the field of Narratology, writing several books and journal articles on narrative theory and analyzing the narrative structure of films, novels, and poems. In his later career, he focused specifically on the films of auteur Michelangelo Antonioni. He was a member of the International Society for the Study of Narrative and the Modern Language Association as well as the faculty Arts Club at UC Berkeley. Professor Chatman received many awards and honors in his long career, including the Wayne C. Booth Lifetime Achievement Award from the Narrative Society, as well as Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships.

Seymour traveled extensively for both work and pleasure; he also lived for longer periods in Europe and Australia. His interests over the years included photography, ceramics, swimming, and tennis. He was an excellent and intuitive cook, and his Bouillabaisse was legendary. Seymour never stopped telling some of the jokes he learned back in Detroit as a boy, though they were often embellished anew with each performance. Music was an integral part of his life. He played classical piano and he was a jazz aficionado.

Seymour was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather, and he had a wide circle of friends. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Blomer, three daughters, Emily Chatman Duffy, Jennifer A. Chatman, and Mariel Chatman Lassalle; four granddaughters, Ava, Sonya, Noèmie, and Anaïs; and three sons-in-law, Ken Duffy, Russell Barnett, and Thibaut Lassalle. He is also survived by ex-wives Evelyn Baughn and Sidsel Ramson. Seymour was preceded in death by his beloved Uncle, Leonard Chatman.

A memorial event for Seymour will take place in Berkeley on February 12, 2016.