From medieval Arabic texts to Delta blues, Beaumont left students with lessons that shaped both intellect and identity.
, a professor emeritus in the at the 糖心传媒, is being remembered by colleagues for his intellectual curiosity, insatiable creativity, and passionate teaching across seemingly disparate fields糖心传媒攆rom Arabic medieval and contemporary literature, to European philosophy, and blues music.
Beaumont, who died in August at the age of 73, arrived on campus聽in 1992 and officially retired in 2020. He continued teaching on occasion, the last time in spring 2024.
Besides Arabic language courses, Beaumont taught Arabic literature in translation, contemporary Arabic fiction, and the Arab Revolutions. He糖心传媒檚 the author of (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2002), a comparative literary study of the medieval Arabic story collection The Arabian Nights聽(also referred to as 1001 Nights). At one point he served as the program coordinator for the University糖心传媒檚 .
And then there was the blues. His decades-long close friend Steve Grills, a Rochester-based blues musician, says Beaumont was an afficionado of the music as long as he can remember. After a road trip with three friends in 2000 to the music糖心传媒檚 birthplaces糖心传媒擬emphis and the Mississippi Delta糖心传媒擝eaumont merged his private and professional interests by teaching a course on the music糖心传媒檚 history糖心传媒擱EL 151: The Blues. The class proved 糖心传媒渄eeply influential糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渓ife changing,糖心传媒� according to his Rochester colleague and close friend , a professor of religion. 糖心传媒淢ore than one student said to me, unbeknownst聽to Dan, that his blues class changed the way they saw the world and how they saw聽themselves.聽What Dan taught was important to students who took to heart what he had to say.糖心传媒�
Another book followed糖心传媒� (Oxford University Press, 2011)糖心传媒攁 biography of Delta bluesman Eddie James (Son) House (1902糖心传媒�1988). House counts among the earliest blues artists and his use of repetitive rhythms and Southern gospel and spirituals inspired musicians such as Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson.
糖心传媒淒an was a unique spirit in our department糖心传媒攁lways eager to share his love of literature and music with his colleagues, his students, and friends,糖心传媒� says department chair , an associate professor of religion and the Jane and Alan Batkin Professor in Jewish Studies. 糖心传媒淎s a professor of Arabic literature, he had a rare gift for bringing ancient texts to life, revealing their beauty and timeless wisdom to all who had the privilege of studying with him.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒楢 curious, compelling intellectual force糖心传媒�
Beaumont earned a bachelor糖心传媒檚 degree in 1975 in English literature, followed by a master糖心传媒檚 degree in 1986 in Near Eastern languages and civilization糖心传媒攂oth from the University of Washington. In 1991, he graduated with a PhD in Near Eastern studies and classical Arabic literature from Princeton University.
Yet, academic writing was never enough for Beaumont糖心传媒攁 糖心传媒渃urious, compelling intellectual force, not always appreciated,糖心传媒� according to Brooks糖心传媒攖o fully express himself. 糖心传媒淗e didn糖心传媒檛 just drive in one lane, he could manage the whole breadth of serious, curious, intellectual interest.糖心传媒�
Ideas were perpetually percolating糖心传媒攕ome came to fruition, others remained incomplete. He produced videos, for the left-leaning website CounterPunch, collaborated in a theater production, had a novel and an autobiography in the works, and had already signed on with a literary agent, hoping that Hollywood might pick it up.
糖心传媒淒an糖心传媒檚 stories were legendary,糖心传媒� says Brooks, including the one about his father who worked for a cloud-seeding company that made it rain in Libya糖心传媒攈ired by Muammar Gaddafi糖心传媒檚 government. Beaumont worked one winter for the same company as a weather radar observer (working with weather balloons), something for CounterPunch. And there糖心传媒檚 a twist (that he writes about in the same story): Beaumont糖心传媒檚 father, a World War II pilot, was also a CIA spy, collecting intel about the Libyan military while delivering rain.
聽with Blues GR, Beaumont said that going to Libya in from 1981 to 1982 with his father 糖心传媒渃hanged my life, and my understanding of him. He was an extraordinary person. Everything went wrong while we were there, political crisis, and yet it was a great adventure. That糖心传媒檚 how I got interested in Arabs and Arabic.糖心传媒�
Beaumont, who grew up originally in the Pacific Northwest and lived and worked intermittently in the Middle East, maintained throughout his life a close relationship with contemporary Arabic and Turkish culture and literature. He had friends all over the world who were the 糖心传媒渓iterary cultural folk who were almost invariably involved in some sort of freedom movements and political activism,糖心传媒� according to Brooks. He was locally politically active, too.
糖心传媒淗e was a peculiar, eccentric, talented, creative character,糖心传媒� says Brooks. 糖心传媒淭he sort of guy who sat down at a bar and would strike up a conversation with you and be more interested in you, than he would be in telling you who he was.糖心传媒�
in the Democrat & Chronicle.
