Clifford Leech (1909–1977) was a prolifically published British-born
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
at University College at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
1963-74. In ''The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe'' (2004), Patrick Cheney, its editor, describes Leech's contribution to
Christopher Marlowe studies "historically important." His publications mainly concerned Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists, including
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
John Webster
John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and '' The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and c ...
and
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
. He also wrote a book on American playwright
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature, literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama tech ...
.
Leech was a scholarly colleague of
Northrop Frye
Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century.
Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symm ...
.
Life
He obtained his M.A. at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
in 1932 with an essay on the poet
Thomas Southerne
Thomas Southerne (12 February 166026 May 1746) was an Irish dramatist.
Biography
Thomas Southerne, born on 12 February 1660, in Oxmantown, near Dublin, was an Irish dramatist. He was the son of Francis Southerne (a Dublin brewer) and Margar ...
. His doctoral thesis at
Queen Mary, University of London
, mottoeng = With united powers
, established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College
, type = Public researc ...
was "Private performances and amateur theatricals (excluding the academic stage) from 1580 to 1660" (1935).
While teaching at the
University of Durham
Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...
, Leech became Censor then, in 1948, the first Principal of
St Cuthbert's Society
St Cuthbert's Society, colloquially known as Cuth's, is a college of Durham University. It was founded in 1888 for students who were not attached to the existing colleges. St Cuthbert's Society is a Bailey college, based on Durham's peninsula next ...
, one of Durham's collegiate bodies. There he was acclaimed "not only in the quality of his scholarship but also in his services to the Society". He stepped down at Easter 1952. His portrait, by Thomas William Pattison (1894-1983) hangs in the college hall of St Cuthbert's in Durham.
In 1964 he succeeded A. S. P. Woodhouse as chairman of the Department of English at
University College at the University of Toronto. In 1971 he gave up being general editor of the Revels Plays, a series he had conceived in the mid-1950s in imitation of the New Arden Shakespeare, applying that edition's methods of scholarship to other English plays before 1700. Leech turned over the Revels Plays to F. David Hoeniger.
Following his retirement, friends and colleagues established a prize named the 'Clifford Leech Prize', awarded annually for an outstanding PhD thesis on a dramatic topic completed at the Department of English or the Centre of Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies.
Publications
Leech's earliest published works were many essays and articles for scholarly periodicals. Later, he edited his own and others' essays into published collections.
*''Shakespeare's Tragedies, and Other Studies in Seventeenth Century Drama'' (1950)
*"Webster as a Dramatic Poet" (essay), in ''John Webster: A Critical Study'' (1951)
*''John Ford and the Drama of His Time'' (1957)
*"History for the Elizabethans" (essay), in ''Shakespeare: A Chronicle'' (1962)
*''The John Fletcher Plays'' (1962)
*''John Ford'' (1963)
*''O'Neill'' (1963)
*''Webster: The Duchess of Malfi'' (1963)
*"When writing becomes absurd" ''and'' "The acting of Shakespeare and Marlowe": ''two addresses'' (1964)
*"Shakespeare's Greeks" (essay), in ''Stratford Papers on Shakespeare'', edited by B. W. Jackson (1964)
*''Marlowe: A Collection of Critical Essays'' (1964)
*''Shakespeare: The Tragedies: a Collection of Critical Essays'', ed. by C. Leech (1965)
*''Essays on Marlowe'', ed. by C. Leech (1965)
*''Tragedy'' (1969)
*''The Dramatist's Experience, with other essays in literary theory'' (1970)
*"On Editing One's First Play" (article), ''Studies in Bibliography'' (1970)
*''The Revels History of Drama in English'' (with T. W. Craik; 1975)
*''Christopher Marlowe: Poet for the Stage'', ed. by Anne Lancashire (1986)
*"The Moral Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet" (essay), ''Critical Essays on Romeo and Juliet'', ed. Joseph A. Porter (1997)
Leech also contributed essays to numerous volumes of ''Shakespeare Survey'', including volumes one, three, six, seven, eight, nine, eleven, twelve, and twenty-six. His contributions deal with the meaning of ''Measure for Measure'', with Shakespeare's style and language, the playwright himself, the comedies, and ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
''.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leech, Clifford
1909 births
1977 deaths
Alumni of Queen Mary University of London
Academics of Durham University
Canadian literary critics
Academic staff of the University of Toronto
Shakespearean scholars
20th-century poets
British emigrants to Canada