Martin L Davies

The University of Leicester marks the passing of Martin L. Davies with sadness, but also with admiration for his achievements. Dr Ann Miller (University Fellow, School of Modern Languages, University of Leicester) and Martin’s wife, Rasida Mataria, contemplate his unique influence.

Martin Davies’ childhood on a council estate near some horse stables in Guildford was idyllic, marred only, in his own account, by a dull formal education at Woking Grammar School. A serendipitous friendship with a French lodger, Pierre, who shared his French cycling magazines, ignited in Martin an obsession with competitive cycling as well as an aptitude for reading confidently in French. Holidays with Pierre and his soon-to-be wife, Françoise, in Avranches further widened Martin’s cultural panorama.

He pursued his study of languages as an undergraduate at St John’s College, Oxford, and then worked towards a doctorate on the German author Jean Paul Richter. His rejection of critical orthodoxy – together with an unfortunate technical issue of presentation, not of Martin’s making – challenged the short-sightedness of his examiners, who failed the thesis. The international recognition that the thesis has since received stands as testimony to Martin’s intellectual courage, even in his twenties, to defy academic convention.

During his 35 years as an academic at the University of Leicester, it is hardly surprising that many PhD students determined to pursue their own independent ideas gravitated towards Martin. They succeeded and flourished through his empathetic guidance.

One of Martin’s favourite poems by Rilke is Der Panther, which reflects his aversion to confinement. Intellectual thinking, in Martin’s eyes, could not be confined to a single discipline. Originally appointed in the French and German Department, and subsequently in the History Department, his interests also spanned Music, Art, as well as the Sciences. In his books, such as Imprisoned by History, his head-on challenge to history as a discipline - and as a ubiquitous set of cultural practices - opened up new philosophical and political horizons for generations of students and fellow academics. To history as a “social anaesthetic” that organises time, commodifies an illusory past, and normalises relations of power and dominance, Martin opposed the Historics project, which favours apprehension over affirmation and promotes a disruptive mode of exploration that valorises situated experience and refuses to accept the inevitability of the “same old thing”.

Martin wore his immense erudition lightly, and will be missed by his colleagues, who admired his intellect and appreciated his courtesy and warmth. He will be missed by his sons from his first two marriages, Alex and Lawrence, who shared, respectively, his sceptical fascination with geopolitics and his enthusiasm for blues jazz. Self-knowledge was what he encouraged in them. And he will be missed by Rasida, his wife, companion, and confidante for 23 years. Their dialogue - playful, witty, irreverent, impassioned, silent - ranged over literature, music, social justice, whatever engaged or enraged them, and the journeys they had made or were planning. Together, they cut through to what really mattered, all the while being tender with each other. Their energy was unbroken by Martin’s illness, during which Rasida took on the role of carer after giving up her job. One of her concerns in the final years was to free Martin from his confinement within the house by enabling online exchanges with friends and scholars across the world. They too will miss him.

Mr Martin (Leonard) Davies: 30 April 1948 – 12 December 2021

Rasida’s personal tribute to Martin is below:

The art of his being 

Being with Martin. Simple and profound. This is what human beings wanted with Martin. They simply wanted to be with him. He was still. Time froze. The air carried his gentle voice – simple and profound thoughts. He admired relationships with pens, with pencils, with colours, with hands, with eyes, with minds, with hearts… with words, with pictures. Being with Martin.

He has, of course, had works published. They are all worth reading. He has of course read thousands and thousands of books, in different tongues from his – French and German at the time. He fed people with profound thoughts. Some devoured. Some did not let go. Some wanted to characterise themselves – immortalise their own feeling of significance. What does it matter? Thankfully, some went away and thought and returned and thought and talked… and thought because they aspire to thinking freely… being free to think and to be.

He flinched in the presence of others. He was affected by the existence of beings other than himself. The world, from his eyes, was fascinating. He enjoyed every moment of his being. I profoundly enjoyed every moment of his being in his last 23 years. We glittered, even in silence. His two sons were profoundly affected by his being their whole lives. For us, he existed and he exists and he will exist. He was, he is, and he still will be.

No mise en abyme. Just pure.

Thank you Martin for being an eternal student of being.  

Never not being with us: Alex Davies and Lawrence Davies, and Rasida Mataria.

Recently, Martin’s work has received renewed recognition. The link will appear here shortly.

His publications and full profile can also be found on his web page.