As a student of Oxford University, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch signed articles contributed to the Oxford University Magazine with the letter "Q," and he continued to use that signature all his life. Q had a remarkable, and yet dual, career: first, he published thirteen collections of short stories and nineteen novels (1887--1912); next, he became the second professor of English literature at Cambridge University and contributed to educational reform (1912--1944). This doubleness pervades his career. In London he contributed to magazines and newspapers, but he lived in Cornwall and his fiction is set almost exclusively there; in Cambridge he was in residence during term as fellow at Jesus College, but as soon as term ended, he was off to Cornwall. His Cambridge colleagues noticed only a few provincialisms in his speech, but his fiction often employs Cornish dialect speakers. He participated in local government in Cornwall (he was mayor of his town and served on educational committees), and he helped to create the English tripos (the examination for students of English literature) at Cambridge University.
