Hulme, Peter

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HULME, Peter

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: University of Leeds, B.A. (Spanish), 1970; University of Essex, Ph.D. (literature), 1974.

ADDRESSES:

Home—The Cottage, Manor Road, West Bergholt, Colchester CO6 3JJ, England. Office—Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of Essex, Colchester, England, temporary lecturer, 1974-78, lecturer, 1979-89, senior lecturer, 1989-91, reader, 1991-93, professor of literature, 1993—, head of department of literature, film, and theatre studies, 1995-98, 2002—. University of Algiers, Bouakouir, Algeria, visiting lecturer at Institut des Langues Etrangères, 1985; University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, visiting research fellow at Institute of Caribbean Studies, 1986; University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, visiting research fellow at Institute for Research in the Humanities, 1988; University of Maryland, College Park, Rockefeller Foundation resident fellow in the humanities, 1993-94; University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil, visiting professor, 1994; University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, distinguished visiting professor, 1997; University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, Brooks visiting fellow, 1999; Australian National University, Canberra, visiting fellow at Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, 1999; British Academy, London, England, research reader, 1999-2001; Newberry Library, Chicago, IL, short-term fellow, 2000.

AWARDS, HONORS:

British Academy Award for research in South America and the Caribbean, 1982-93, for research in the Caribbean, 1986, for research in the United States and the Caribbean, 1990.

WRITINGS:

(Editor and, with Gordon Brotherston, author of introduction) Ficciones: Jorge Luis Borges, Harrap (London, England), 1976, revised edition, Bristol Classical Press (London, England), 1999.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) Literature, Society, and the Sociology of Literature, University of Essex (Colchester, England), 1977.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) 1848: The Sociology of Literature, two volumes, University of Essex (Colchester, England), 1978.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) 1936: The Sociology of Literature, two volumes, University of Essex (Colchester, England), 1980.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) 1642: Literature and Power in the Seventeenth Century, University of Essex (Colchester, England), 1981.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) 1789: Reading Writing Revolution, University of Essex (Colchester, England), 1982.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) The Politics of Theory, University of Essex (Colchester, England), 1983.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) Confronting the Crisis: Politics, War, and Culture in the Eighties, University of Essex (Colchester, England), 1984.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) Europe and Its Others, two volumes, University of Essex (Colchester, England), 1985.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and others) Literature, Politics, and Theory, Methuen (New York, NY), 1986.

Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1787, Methuen (New York, NY), 1986, second edition, Routledge (New York, NY), 1992.

(Editor, with Ludmilla Jordanova) The Enlightenment and Its Shadows, Routledge (New York, NY), 1990.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and Margaret Iversen) Uses of History: Marxism, Postmodernism, and the Renaissance, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and Margaret Iversen) Postmodernism and the Re-reading of Modernity, Manchester University Press (New York, NY), 1992.

(Editor, with Neil L. Whitehead) Wild Majesty: Encounters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day; An Anthology, Clarendon Press (New York, NY), 1992.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and Margaret Iversen) Colonial Discourse, Postcolonial Theory, Manchester University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor, with Francis Barker and Margaret Iversen) Cannibalism and the Colonial World, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor, with William H. Sherman) "The Tempest" and Its Travels, University of Pennsylvania Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

Remnants of Conquest: The Island Caribs and Their Visitors, 1877-1998, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor, with Tim Youngs) The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

New West Indian Guide, international advisory board, 1991—; Ecumene, member of advisory board, 1992—; "Smithsonian Series of Studies in Native American Literature," member of editorial advisory board, 1994-95; Ilha do desterro, member of advisory board, 1995—; Jouvert Online, advisor, 1996—; University of Pennsylvania Press "Americas Cultural Studies" series, member of editorial board, 1996—; Studies in Travel Writing, assistant editor, 1997—; Kacike, member of editorial board, 1999—; Jean Rhys Review, member of editorial board, 2000—.

Reviewer of books for scholarly publications, including American Historical Review, British Journal of Eighteenth-Century Studies, Hispanic American Historical Review, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, and William & Mary Quarterly. Contributor to publications including, Critique of Anthropology, Caribbean Studies, Culture and History, and Interpretation and Culture.

SIDELIGHTS:

Peter Hulme, a longtime professor of literature at the University of Essex, is a prolific author of books, articles, and papers. His research includes the topics of literature, history, anthropology, postcolonial studies, travel writing, and Native American studies. Hulme was also a member of the Essex Sociology of Literature project—one of the most prominent intellectual and political programs within the University of Essex—from its inception in 1976 to its culmination in 2001.

After completing his doctorate, Hulme studied European conceptions of America, specifically Spanish and English representations of the Caribbean during the early modern period. As a result, Hulme published Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1787. Sixteenth Century Journal contributor Kenneth J. Andrien commented that the book "examines the emergence of a distinct colonial discourse, which attempted to justify European expansion into the extended Caribbean.… From the first encounters in the New World this colonialist writing began contrasting 'civilization' of the Europeans with the 'savagery' and cannibalism of the Amerindians."

Colonial Encounters unveils a deeply philosophical and necessary connection between the depiction of Amerindian cultures as strange and savage and the development of a European identity in the conquered regions. Hulme analyzes the concept of cannibalism and the depiction in historical texts of the particular groups accused of the practice. Andrien concluded that Hulme "argues that the Europeans used language to mold an ideology justifying their subjugation of the people and economic resources of the New World."

Cannibalism and the Colonial World, edited by Hulme, Francis Barker, and Margaret Iversen, is a collection of essays by anthropologists, art historians, and traditional literary critics. Cannibalism continues to be a popular subject in the Western world as well as a topic of considerable controversy. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute writer Ivan Brady commented that "while this volume is not aimed primarily at reconciling the long-since-grown-tedious question of 'Did they or didn't they practise cannibalism?,' it none the less takes a serious look at cannibal yarns."

Joshua Lund pointed out in Race and Class that the word "cannibal" is no longer simply applied to humans eating human flesh but "is a discursive configuration that emerges concomitantly with the European exploration, invasion and colonisation of the Americas.… The figure of the cannibal in these essays tends to offer us a picture of western culture coming to grips with its own, horrifying legacy." Brady commented that Hulme contributes a great deal to the topic and added that "no one should be admitted to further debates on cannibalism in history, symbol, cultural theme, social pattern, or physical act without having read this volume carefully."

Hulme collaborated with William H. Sherman to edit "The Tempest" and Its Travels, a collection of nineteen essays. Apart from scholarly essays, the collection includes works by poets and novelists, as well as views expressed by an employee of two nongovernmental organizations involved in postcolonial policy. Shakespeare Studies contributor Bruce Avery commented that in their anthology focusing on Shakespeare's noted play, Hulme and Sherman "produced something like a cubist map of the play, by collecting writers … whose multiple perspectives shed light on much of its extraordinary landscape." Avery concluded that the book contains "a suitably baroque collection of essays, poems, images, and appropriations."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Book Review, February, 1988, M. Elisabeth Mudimbe-Boyi, review of Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1797, pp. 1, 11, and 20.

Americas, January, 1995, Lance Grahn, review of Wild Majesty: Encounters with Caribs from Columbus to the Present Day; An Anthology, p. 429.

Choice, June, 1987, F. A. Scarano, review of Colonial Encounters, p. 1605; December, 1994, E. S. Nelson, review of Colonial Discourse, Postcolonial Theory, p. 594; April, 2001, C. Baker, review of "The Tempest" and Its Travels p. 1466.

Comparative Studies in Society and History, April, 1997, Jacqueline Stevens, review of The Enlightenment and Its Shadows, pp. 401-409.

Contemporary Review, February, 2003, review of The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, p. 119.

Critical Inquiry, autumn, 1993, Myra Jehlen, "Response to Peter Hulme," p. 187.

Ethnohistory, fall, 1994, Nancie L. Gonzalez, review of Wild Majesty, p. 691.

European History Quarterly, April, 1992, Jeremy Black, review of The Enlightenment and Its Shadows, pp. 247-261.

Hispanic American Historical Review, May, 1994, William F. Keegan, review of Wild Majesty, p. 328.

Journal of Historical Geography, April, 1990, David Lowenthal, review of Colonial Encounters, p. 227; April, 1994, Lydia Mihelic Pulsipher, review of Wild Majesty, pp. 215.

Journal of Latin American Studies, October, 1999, Hilaire Kallendorf, review of Cannibalism and the Colonial World, p. 736.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, December, 2002, Ivan Brady, review of Cannibalism and the Colonial World, p. 767.

Latin American Research Review, summer, 1991, Patricia Steed, review of Colonial Encounters, p. 181; winter, 1997, William D. Phillips, Jr., review of Wild Majesty, p. 265.

Man, March, 1994, Joan-Pau Rubies, review of Wild Majesty, p. 208.

Modern Language Review, July, 2002, Christie Dymkowski, review of "The Tempest" and Its Travels, pp. 677-678.

Monthly Review, July-August, 1992, Joel Kovel, review of Colonial Encounters, p. 49.

Race and Class, April-June, 2001, Joshua Lund, review of Cannibalism and the Colonial World, p. 87.

Renaissance Quarterly, winter, 2001, Bernadette Andrea, review of "The Tempest" and Its Travels, p. 1656.

Review of English Studies, February, 1988, Karina Williamson, review of Colonial Encounters, p. 153; August, 1994, Thomas Docherty, review of The Uses of History: Marxism, Postmodernism, and the Renaissance, p. 452.

Shakespeare Quarterly, winter, 2001, Mary C. Fuller, review of "The Tempest" and Its Travels, pp. 502-503.

Shakespeare Studies, 2002, Bruce Avery, review of "The Tempest" and Its Travels, p. 282.

Sixteenth Century Journal, winter, 1993, Kenneth J. Andrien, review of Colonial Encounters, pp. 922-923.

Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, summer, 1988, Robert D. Hume, review of Colonial Encounters, p. 544.

Times Higher Education Supplement, April 13, 2001, Claire Preston, review of "The Tempest" and Its Travels, p. 26.

Times Literary Supplement, October 22, 1993, Paul Henley, review of Wild Majesty, pp. 4-5; April 20, 2001, Ruth Morse, review of "The Tempest" and Its Travels, p. 28; January 31, 2003, Michael Gorra, review of The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, pp. 8-9.