Marco Mincoff (1909-1987)
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 ...
an scholar and professor of English Studies at the
University of Sofia
Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...
.
Mincoff was born July 15 (28), 1909 in Chamkorya (now
Samokov
Samokov ( bg, Самоков ) is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a basin between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due to the suitable winter sports conditions, Sam ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
). With a Humboldt grant he completed his doctoral dissertation at the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
in 1933. From 1951 to 1974 he was head of the department of English at the University of Sofia. Over the years, teaching courses in
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
,
phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
,
stylistics
Stylistics, a branch of applied linguistics, is the study and interpretation of texts of all types and/or spoken language in regard to their linguistic and tonal style, where style is the particular variety of language used by different individu ...
and the history of English literature, he wrote various textbooks and monographs. However his main subject was
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a Cultural movement, cultural and Art movement, artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginni ...
drama, on which he wrote numerous articles. His work earned him recognition and he became a member of the editorial boards of ''Shakespeare Survey,'' ''
Shakespeare Quarterly
''Shakespeare Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1950 by the Shakespeare Association of America. It is now under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Along with book and performance criticism, ''Shakespeare Qu ...
,'' ''Shakespeare Studies'', and a few other learned journals. In 1966 the
Shakespeare Institute
The Shakespeare Institute is a centre for postgraduate study dedicated to the study of William Shakespeare and the literature of the English Renaissance. It is part of the University of Birmingham, and is located in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The Insti ...
at the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
awarded him an honorary title. A commemorative volume containing some biographical material and facsimile reproductions of twenty five of his papers appeared in 2009 on the occasion of the hundredth year of his birth.
[Shurbanov A.]
''A Shakespearean Behind the Curtain''
The European English Messenger, Vol. 23.1 – Summer 2014, pp. 43-49
Works
*''Christopher Marlowe: a study of his development'' (Sofia, 1937)
*''Shakespeare: life & works'' (in Bulgarian) (1946; 2nd. ed. Sofia: Rollis Press, 1992)
*
Baroque Literature in England'' (1947) repr. in Limon J., and Halio J., ''Shakespeare and his contemporaries'', Associated University Presses, 1993, p. 11-69
*''An English Grammar'' (Sofia: Nauka i Izkustvo, 1950)
*''English Historical Grammar'' (Sofia, 1955)
*''An Introduction to English Phonetics'' (1960; 3rd. ed. Sofia: Nauka i Izkustvo, 1973)
*''A Study of Style'' (1965; 2nd. ed. Sofia: Pleiada, 1998)
*''A History of English Literature Parts I and II'' (1970; 3rd. ed. Sofia: Nauka i Izkustvo, 1998)
*''Shakespeare: the first steps'' (Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1976)
*''Things Supernatural and Causeless'' (1987; 2nd. ed. London & Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1992)
*''Studies in English Renaissance Drama'' (Sofia University Press, 2009)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mincoff
1909 births
1987 deaths
Shakespearean scholars
Sofia University