Michael Hugo Black (7 June 1928 – 16 June 2022) was a British author and literary critic who held the position of university

Publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

Early life and education

Black was born in 1928 in

Tempsford Tempsford is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about east north-east of the county town of Bedford. The village is split by the A1 Great North Road and is located just bef ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

. His parents, Norman Black and Frances Best, were both dental surgeons, originally from Scotland. He grew up in Falmouth, where he attended the local grammar school and, under the advice of his headmaster, sat the scholarship exam for Cambridge. He was awarded a minor scholarship to

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

. He graduated with a first in Modern Languages and English in 1951.Jesus: The Life of a Cambridge College, Granta Editions, 2007

Career

After military service in Austria, Black was appointed assistant secretary in September 1951. From 1965 until 1978 he held the role of chief editor, and from that time until his retirement in 1987, he held the title of University Publisher. Throughout his career Black's special interest was in developing the Press's English literature list. Black was a follower of F.R. Leavis and published the reprints of Leavis' journal ''Scrutiny''. He was also editor of ''The Cambridge Quarterly''. Among the many achievements of Cambridge publishing in his time, was the edition of the complete works of D.H. Lawrence, an author on whom he wrote four titles. He is a fellow of

Clare Hall, Cambridge Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1966 by Clare College, Clare Hall is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students alongside postdoctoral researchers and fellows. It was est ...

Publications

Black was active as a writer in the latter half of the twentieth century, primarily as a literary critic. His publications include: *''The Literature of Fidelity'' London : Chatto & Windus, 1975. *''Poetic Drama as Mirror of the Will'' London : Vision Press, 1977. *''Cambridge University Press: 1584-1984'' Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1984. *''D.H. Lawrence: the early fiction: a commentary'' Basingstoke : Macmillan, 1986. *''D.H. Lawrence: the early philosophical works: a commentary'' London : Macmillan, 1991. *''D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers'' Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1992. *''Lawrence's England: the major fiction, 1913-20'' Basingstoke : Palgrave in association with St Antony's, Oxford, 2001. *''Learning to be a publisher: Cambridge University Press 1951-1987. Personal reminiscences'' Privately published, 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Michael 1928 births 2022 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge British book editors British literary critics English people of Scottish descent Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge People from Central Bedfordshire District People from Falmouth, Cornwall Writers from Bedfordshire Writers from Cornwall