Malcolm Bradbury
born September 7, 1932,
Sheffield, England
died November 27, 2000, Norwich, Norfolk
British novelist and critic who is best
known for The History Man (1975), a
satirical look at academic life.
Bradbury studied at the University of
Leicester (B.A., 1953), Queen Mary College
(M.A., 1955) in London, and the University
of Manchester, from which he received his
doctorate in 1964. After traveling in the
United States on a fellowship, he taught
from 1959, first at the University of Hull,
then at Birmingham. In 1965 he joined the
faculty of the University of East Anglia,
where he was a lecturer, reader, and then
professor of American studies before
retiring in 1995. In 1970 he helped found
the university’s first creative writing
course and became noted for encouraging new
talent. Among the students he taught were
Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro.
Bradbury received critical acclaim for
his first novel, Eating People Is Wrong
(1959), which takes place in the provincial
world of academics, a common setting for his
novels. Less successful was Stepping
Westward (1965), which leans heavily on his
experience on an American university campus.
Beginning with The History Man, Bradbury’s
works became more technically innovative as
well as harsher in tone. His later novels
include Rates of Exchange (1983), the
satiric tale of a linguist traveling to a
fictional eastern European country; Why Come
to Slaka? (1986), a guidebook to that
fictional country; Cuts (1987); and Doctor
Criminale (1992). His last novel, To the
Hermitage, appeared in 2000. Bradbury also
wrote several books and essays of criticism
and literary history, as well as a number of
television plays. He was appointed CBE in
1991 and was knighted in 2000.
