Peter L. Thorslev

Peter Larsen Thorslev Jr. (October 17, 1929 – October 13, 2011) was an American literary scholar. A 1965 Guggenheim Fellow, he wrote two books on Romantic-era literature: The Byronic Hero and Romantic Contraries (1984). He was one of the first openly LGBT academics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Biography Thorslev was born on October 17, 1929, in Harlan, Iowa. Later moving to Kennard, he obtained his BA from Dana College in 1950. After spending one year at Northwestern University as an English instructor (1959-1960), he moved to the University of California, Los Angeles as assistant professor of English. In 1965, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship "for a study of free will and determinism in the Romantic period". Another book in the field, Romantic Contraries, was published in 1984. He chaired the UCLA senate's academic freedom committee. In 1988, he voiced concern about the state of the International Gay and Lesbian Archives (now part of the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives) after they lost their original storage space due to financial issues.

Thorslev died on October 13, 2011, at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. He was cremated and interred at St. James' Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, while a funeral took place on October 20 at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in North Hollywood. Romantic Contraries (1984)