Malcolm McNaughtan Bowie FBA (; 5 May 1943 – 28 January 2007) was a British academic, and

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scholar of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

, Bowie wrote several books on

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

, as well as books on Mallarmé, Lacan, and psychoanalysis. Born in

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the English county, county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the comp ...

, Suffolk, Bowie attended

Woodbridge School Woodbridge School is a private day and boarding school in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, founded in 1577, for the poor of Woodbridge. It was later supported by the Seckford Foundation. Woodbridge School has been co-educational since September ...

, and then studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

where he gained an MA in 1965. He was awarded a DPhil at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

in 1970. His research fields were French literature, psychoanalysis and the relationship between literature and the arts. He taught at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

(1967–69),

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

(1969–76) and

Queen Mary College, London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

. Bowie was elected to the Christ's Mastership in 2002, after spending ten years as

Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature The position of Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford was founded in 1918 shortly after the end of the First World War. Ferdinand Foch, or "Marshal Foch", was supreme commander of Allied forces from April 1918 o ...

and

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

. Before going on to the

Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages is a department of the University of Oxford, England. It is part of the university's Humanities Division, University of Oxford, Humanities Division. The Faculty offers various undergraduate and postg ...

, he held the Professorship of French Language and Literature at Queen Mary College (1976–92). While in London he was the Founding Director of the Institute of Romance Studies (1989–92), the

School of Advanced Study The School of Advanced Study (SAS), a postgraduate-only institution of the University of London, is the UK's national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities and social sciences. It was established in 1994 and ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In December 2006, he vacated the Mastership because of ill health, and was made an

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Fellow of Christ's. He was a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

and the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

, a Member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

, an Honorary Member of the Modern Language Association of America, and an . He served as President of the Society for French Studies, the British Comparative Literature Association, and the Association of University Professors of French, and held a Visiting Professorship at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and a Visiting Distinguished Professorship at the

CUNY The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

Graduate Center in New York. His ''Proust Among The Stars'' (1998) won the 2001 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism.

Selected contributions

Books

* ''Freud, Proust and Lacan: Theory as Fiction''. Cambridge University Press, 1988. . * ''Psychoanalysis and the Future of Theory''. Wiley-Blackwell, 1993

References

* Clive Scott
'Professor Malcolm Bowie'
(Obituary), ''The Independent'' 5 February 2007. * Michael Sheringham

(Obituary), ''The Guardian'' 14 February 2007 * ''The Times'' 6 February 2007 (Obituary
'Professor Malcolm Bowie'
* ''The Daily Telegraph'' 5 February 2007 (Obituary
'Professor Malcolm Bowie'
* Bowie appears as a character, under his own name, in

Stephen Henighan Stephen Patrick Glanvill Henighan (born 19 June 1960) is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, journalist, translator and academic. Henighan has written short stories and novels about immigrants and travellers. As an academic at the Universi ...

's novel ''The World of After''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowie, Malcolm 1943 births 2007 deaths English literary critics Literary critics of French Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Sussex Academics of the University of East Anglia Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge Academics of Queen Mary University of London Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Masters of Christ's College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Members of Academia Europaea People from Aldeburgh Marshal Foch Professors of French Literature Scholars of French literature People educated at Woodbridge School