IN MEMORIAM

Daniel S. Silvia
Professor of English
UC Davis
1934-2011

Dan was a stylish child of Charleston gentry. Not only was he proud of his Tidewater Southern upbringing, but he also reached back into his Portuguese ancestral past for a perspective that seemed to help him illuminate medieval literature and culture.  He was self-possessed, and his words were measured, and behind the words were a thoughtful and independent mind. Dan’s teaching was exemplary. He walked into his classroom without notes and lectured very articulately, never with any hesitation, always in a manner that engaged his students. Dan was also very helpful to junior faculty with advice that was mature, considered, astute. He did not publish in great quantity but essays of his are still cited.  Publication plans for a long manuscript on Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde fell through, unfortunately. The work was acute on Pandarus, rich in textual detail and psychological insight. 

Dan set high standards for himself and for his students as well.  His graduate seminars were rich in content and gave students a chance to do their best work. Yet he was sometimes hesitant to encourage a student to enter or continue in the graduate program, being very mindful of the academic job market. He was extremely popular with undergraduates, a popularity engendered by the depth of his insight and the breadth of his learning, but most of all by his ability to convey a palpable empathy with his students. One of his TAs, whom he also mentored for his Ph.D. exams, said that “as I read final exam after final exam in his class, I could see not only how much the students had learned, but also how much affection they had for the instructor from whom they had learned it.”

He had a great, articulate mind, and the comportment of a southern gentleman, which he maintained even in the midst of lively department debates. English department faculty and students, and the university community, were lucky to have him here.