David Musselwhite (3 December 1940 – 23 February 2010) was a British literary critic and academic.

Life

He was born in Bristol and studied first at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, then later at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

, where he subsequently became a Senior Lecturer. He also taught in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, and at

Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He was the author of two books – ''Partings Welded Together: Politics and Desire in the Nineteenth-Century English Novel'' (Methuen, 1987), and ''Social Transformations in Hardy’s Tragic Novels: Megamachines and Phantasms'' (

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

, 2003). Both books were widely reviewed, with the latter described by Tim Armstrong as “...a theoretically provocative and fascinating study.” (''The Modern Language Review'') and by Andrew Radford as "...not only accessible to Hardy enthusiasts, but necessary to academic specialists". He initiated the Essex Sociology of Literature Project at the University of Essex in 1976. This involved a set of conferences that according to literary critic,

Terry Eagleton Terence Francis Eagleton (born 22 February 1943) is an English literary theorist, critic, and public intellectual. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University. Eagleton has published over forty books, ...

"...have a quasi-mythological status in the minds of some who weren’t even born at the time". His main research areas were the English novel,

Latin American literature Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of Latin America. Latin American literature rose to particular pro ...

, and the Enlightenment, and he published numerous articles in these fields.

Publications

Books

''Partings Welded Together: Politics and Desire in the Nineteenth-Century English Novel'', Methuen, 1987. ''Social Transformations in Hardy's Tragic Novels: Megamachines and Phantasms'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Articles

* "El Perseguidor: un modelo para desarmar", '' Nuevos Aires'', No. 8, Buenos Aires, 1972, 23-36 * "El astillero en marcha", ''Nuevos Aires'', No. 11, Buenos Aires, 1973, 3-15 * "Cecilia Valdes", ''New World'', Jamaica, 1973 * "Los Premios entre lo todo y la nada", ''Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos'', Número 314-315, (Agosto-Septiembre), Madrid, 1976, 520-566 * "La vida y la muerte de Berthe Trepat", ''Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos'', Número 320-21 (Febrero y Marzo), Madrid 1977, 341-359 * "Women in Love: a flawed novel", '' Essays in Poetics'', Vol. I, No. 1 Keele 1976, 48-60 * "Wuthering Heights: the unacceptable text", ''

Red Letters A page from a red-letter edition Red letter edition Bibles are those in which the words of Jesus Christ are printed in red ink. History The inspiration for printing the words of Jesus in red comes from Luke 22:20: "This cup is the new testame ...

'', No. 2, 1976, 3-5 * "Towards a political aesthetics", ''Literature, Society and the Sociology of Literature, Proceedings of the Essex Conference'', ed. F. Barker et al., Essex, 1976, 8-17 * "The novel as narcotic", ''Proceedings of the Essex Conference'', ed. F. Barker et al. Essex, 1978, 207-224 * "The Trial of Warren Hastings", ''Proceedings of the Essex Conference'', ed. F. Barker et al., Essex, 1982, 226-251 * "Notes on a journey to Vanity Fair", ''Literature and History'', 1982 * "Reflections on Burke's Reflections 1790/1990", in ''The Enlightenment and its Shadows'', ed. Peter Hulme and

Ludmilla Jordanova Ludmilla Jane Jordanova (born 10 October 1949) is a British historian and academic. She is Emeritus Professor of Visual Culture in the Department of History at Durham University. Biography Jordanova was born to a Bulgarian father and English ...

, Methuen, 1990, 142-162 * "Hardy's Mega-Machines", in ''Thomas Hardy: Revista Portuguesa de Estudios Anglo-Americanos'', Oporto, 1992, 69-92 * "Death and the Phantasm: A Reading of Cortázar's 'Babas del diablo!", ''

Romance Studies Romance studies or Romance philology (; ; ; ; ; ; ) is an academic discipline that covers the study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of areas that speak Romance languages. Romance studies departments usually include the study of Spa ...

'' 18, June 2000, 57-68 * "Phantasm and Nation: Sarmiento's Facundo", ''

New Comparison ''Comparative Critical Studies'' is the journal of the British Comparative Literature Association (BCLA). It is published three times a year by Edinburgh University Press, in February, June and October. ''Comparative Critical Studies'' also incor ...

'' 29 (Spring 2000), 5-26 * "Tess of the d'Urbervilles: 'A Becoming Woman' or Deleuze and Guattari go to Wessex", ''

Textual Practice ''Textual Practice'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering radical literary studies. The editor-in-chief is Peter Boxall (Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford). It was established in 1987 by Meth ...

'', 14.3, 2000, 499-518 * "The Colombia of Maria: un paìs de cafres", ''Romance Studies'' Vol. 24 (1), March 2006, 41-54 * "Deleuze Goes to Xanadu", ''Deleuze Studies'', vol. 1 no. 2, Dec 2007, 100-125 * "''Heart of Darkness'': A Minority Report", ''Salt'', issue 3, 2010

Obituary

* Del Valle Alcalá, Roberto (2010) "David E. Musselwhite, 1940-2010", 'The European English Messenger', 19.2 View entire article in pdf: http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/57457689/Obituaries

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musselwhite, David 1940 births 2010 deaths British literary critics Academics of the University of Essex Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Academic staff of the University of the West Indies Academic staff of Curtin University