Brian Vickers (critic)
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Sir Brian William Vickers (born 1937) is a British academic, now Emeritus Professor at ETH Zurich. He is known for his work on the history of rhetoric,
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 natio ...
,
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 ...
, and
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
. He joined the English department at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
as a visiting professor in 2012.


Life

He was born in
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, educated at
St Marylebone Grammar School St Marylebone Grammar School (SMGS) was a grammar school located in the London borough of the City of Westminster, from 1792 to 1981. History Philological School Founded as the Philological Society by Thomas Collingwood, under the patronage of ...
, London and at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1962 with a Double First in English, winning both the Charles Oldham Shakespeare Scholarship and the Harness Shakespeare Essay Prize. He was awarded his
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
from Cambridge in 1967, and was a fellow of
Downing College Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...
from 1966 to 1971 during which time he directed studies in English. In 1972 he became professor ordinarius at ETH Zurich. He has been a fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
since 1998 (Corresponding, Ordinary Fellow from 2003) and a senior research fellow at the
Institute of English Studies The Institute of English Studies (abbreviated as IES) is a centre of excellence in the research, promotion and facilitation in the field English Literature and Language. With a specialisation in book history, palaeography and textual scholarsh ...
,
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 ...
since 2004. He was knighted for services to literary scholarship in the New Year Honours of 2008."Arise, Sir Brian"
''Times Literary Supplement'' website, 2 January 2008. He is the general editor of an old-spelling edition of th
Complete Works of John Ford
published by
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.


Works

* (ed.) ''The Man of Feeling'' by
Henry Mackenzie Henry Mackenzie FRSE (August 1745 – 14 January 1831, born and died in Edinburgh) was a Scottish lawyer, novelist and writer sometimes seen as the Addison of the North. While remembered mostly as an author, his main income came from legal rol ...
(1967) * ''Francis Bacon and Renaissance Prose'' (1968) * ''The Artistry of Shakespeare's Prose'' (1968) * ''The World of Jonathan Swift: essays for the tercentenary'' (1968) * (ed.) ''Essential articles for the study of Francis Bacon'' (1968) * (ed.) ''Seventeenth-century Prose: an anthology'' (1969) * ''Classical Rhetoric in English Poetry'' (1970) * ''Towards Greek Tragedy: drama, myth, society'' (1973) * (ed.) '' Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage'' (six volumes, 1974–81) * ''Francis Bacon'' (1978) * ''Frances Yates and the Writing of History'' (1979) * ''Shakespeare's Hypocrites'' (1979) * ''Rhetorical and Anti-rhetorical Tropes : on writing the history of elocution'' (1981) * (ed.) ''Shakespeare: Coriolanus'' (1981) * (ed.) ''Rhetoric Revalued: papers from the International Society for the History of Rhetoric'' (1982) * ''Epideictic and Epic in the Renaissance'' (1983) * ''Epideictic rhetoric in Galileo's "Dialogo"'' (1983) * (ed.) ''Occult and Scientific Mentalities in the Renaissance'' (1984) * ''Rhetoric and the Pursuit of Truth: language change in the 17th and 18th centuries'' (1985) * ''Public and Private Life in the Seventeenth Century: the Mackenzie-Evelyn debate'' (1986) * ''English Science, Bacon to Newton'' (1987) * ''In Defence of Rhetoric'' (1988) * '' Returning to Shakespeare'' (1989) * * ''Arbeit, Musse, Meditation : Studies in the Vita activa and Vita contemplativa'' (1991) * ''Appropriating Shakespeare: contemporary critical quarrels'' (1993) * (ed.) ''The history of the reign of King Henry VII and selected works'' by Francis Bacon (1998) * (ed.) ''The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral'' by Francis Bacon (1999) * (ed.) ''English Renaissance Literary Criticism'' (1999) * ''Shakespeare, Co-author: a historical study of the five collaborative plays'' (2002) * (ed.) ''Francis Bacon, The Major Works: ncluding New Atlantis and the Essays' (2002) * ''Counterfeiting Shakespeare: evidence, authorship, and John Ford's Funerall elegye'' (2002) * (ed. with William Baker) ''The Merchant of Venice'' (2005) * ''Shakespeare, A Lover's Complaint, and John Davies of Hereford'' (2007) * ''The One King Lear'' (2016)


See also

*
Otium ''Otium'', a Latin abstract term, has a variety of meanings, including leisure time in which a person can enjoy eating, playing, relaxing, contemplation and academic endeavors. It sometimes, but not always, relates to a time in a person's ret ...


References


External links


Official WebsiteOfficial page at ETH ZurichOfficial page at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced StudyBibliography (PDF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers, Brian 1937 births Living people British literary theorists Francis Bacon scholars Knights Bachelor Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Downing College, Cambridge Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Academics of University College London ETH Zurich faculty People educated at St Marylebone Grammar School