TED RILEY - internationally acclaimed for his seminal work on Miguel de Cervantes, the sixteenth-century Spanish novelist and author of Don Quixote - has died in Edinburgh. He was aged 77.
Emeritus professor of Hispanic studies at Edinburgh University, Ted Riley's profound knowledge of Cervantes and his writings put him in worldwide demand and, such was his standing, that his death has been widely marked in Spain. Born in Mexico, where his father, an engineer, was involved in the construction of the railway network in that country, young Ted, then aged seven, moved with his parents and sister to Cuba, entering Clifton
College at Bristol for his education when he was 10.
His studies at Queen's College, Oxford, were interrupted by the war, in which he served in the Royal Navy, entering as an ordinary seaman and demobilised
at the end of hostilities as a sub-lieutenant in the RNVR.
A Neale Exhibitioner and
Scholar and the holder of travelling scholarships, he worked in Madrid and Oxford on Spanish literary theory of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Graduated BA and MA at Oxford and, later,
MA, at Dublin, he began his professional career there, joining the staff of Trinity College where, 16 years later, he was appointed
professor of Spanish.
It was at Trinity College, Dublin, that he met Judy, his wife-to-be. They were married in 1971 and had two children, Nick and Hannah.
In 1970 he moved to Edinburgh University where he was professor of Hispanic studies for the next
19 years, teaching, at all levels, Spanish language and literature
- chiefly golden age and modern. He was appointed emeritus pro-fessor in 1989.
During his career, Ted Riley held many visiting professorships, mainly in America but also at the University of Sao Paulo.
With his book Cervantes's
Theory of the Novel, published in 1962, republished several times thereafter, and translated into
Spanish, Ted Riley won worldwide acclaim in literary circles. It was followed by a number of books and articles on Cervantes and his hero, Don Quixote.
Away from the world of academe, he found great pleasure in film - both in shooting his own productions, using a Super-8 camera in those days before the advent of
hi-tech and miniaturised video,
and in visiting the commercial
cinema (flea-pits included) where a favourite was Marilyn Monroe's Some Like It Hot.
Professor Riley, who made his home in East Lothian, is survived by his wife and children.
Professor Edward Calverley Riley; born October 5, 1923, died March 6, 2001.
George Hume
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