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G. Wilson Knight

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George Richard Wilson Knight (1897–1985) was an English literary critic and academic, known particularly for his interpretation of mythic content in literature, and The Wheel of Fire, a collection of essays on Shakespeare's plays. He was also an actor and theatrical director, and considered an outstanding lecturer.

Early life and education

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Knight was educated at Dean Close School, Dulwich College[1] and, after serving as a dispatch rider in World War I in Iraq, India and Persia,[2] he went up to St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he read English. He graduated with second-class honours.[3] After Oxford, he went into teaching. From 1923 to 1931 he taught at Hawtreys, Westgate-on-Sea and at Dean Close School, Cheltenham.[2]

The classical scholar William Francis Jackson Knight (1895–1964), of whom he wrote a biography, was his brother.

Academic career

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Knight's first academic post was at Trinity College, Toronto in 1931. He taught at Stowe School from 1941 to 1946. In 1946 he became a Reader in English Literature at the University of Leeds. He remained at Leeds as a Professor of English Literature from 1956 until his retirement in 1962.[citation needed]

At Toronto, he produced and acted in the main Shakespearian tragedies at Hart House Theatre. Among his other productions are Hamlet at the Rudolf Steiner Theatre, London in 1935; This Sceptred Isle at the Westminster Theatre London in 1941; and at Leeds the Agamemnon of Aeschylus in 1946; Racine's Athalie in 1947; and Timon of Athens in 1948.[2]

Spiritualism

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Knight was a believer in spiritualism and was a vice-president for the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain.[4][5]

Works

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  • Myth and Miracle: an Essay on the Mystic Symbolism of Shakespeare (1929)
  • The Wheel of Fire, Interpretations of Shakespearian Tragedy (1930)
  • The Imperial Theme (1931)
  • The Shakespearian Tempest (1932)
  • The Christian Renaissance, with interpretations of Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe, and a note on T. S. Eliot (1933)
  • Shakespeare and Tolstoy (1934)
  • Principles of Shakespeare's Production (1936)
  • Atlantic Crossing: an Autobiographical Design (1936)
  • The Burning Oracle, Studies in the Poetry of Action (1939)
  • The Sceptred Isle: Shakespeare's Message for England at War (1940)
  • The Starlit Dome: Studies in the Poetry of Vision (1941)
  • Chariot of Wrath: the Message of John Milton to Democracy at War (1942)
  • The Olive and the Sword: a Study of England's Shakespeare (1944)
  • The Dynasty of Stowe (1945)
  • Hiroshima, on Prophecy and the sun-bomb (1946)
  • The Crown of Life: Essays in Interpretation of Shakespeare's Final Plays (1947)
  • Christ and Nietzsche: an Essay in Poetic Wisdom (1948)
  • The Imperial Theme: Further Interpretations of Shakespeare's Tragedies, including the Roman Plays (1951)
  • Lord Byron: Christian Virtues (1952)
  • Byron's Dramatic Prose (1953)
  • The Last of the Incas, a Play on the Conquest of Peru (1954)
  • Laureate of Peace: on the Genius of Alexander Pope (1954)
  • The Mutual Flame: on Shakespeare's Sonnets and The Phoenix and the Turtle (1955)
  • Lord Byron's Marriage: The Evidence of Asterisks (1957)
  • The Sovereign Flower: on Shakespeare as the poet of Royalism (1958)
  • Ibsen (1962)
  • The Golden Labyrinth: a Study of British Drama (1962)
  • Byron and Hamlet (1962)
  • The Saturnian Quest: a Chart of the Prose Works of John Cowper Powys (1964)
  • Byron and Shakespeare (1966)
  • Gold-Dust, with Other Poetry (1968)
  • Shakespeare and Religion: Essays of Forty Years
  • Neglected Powers: Essays on 19th and 20th Century Literature (1971)
  • Jackson Knight: a Biography (1975)
  • Virgil and Shakespeare (1977)
  • Shakespeare's Dramatic Challenge: on the Rise of Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes (1977)
  • Symbol of Man: on Body-soul for Stage and Studio (1979)
  • Shakespearian Dimensions (1984)
  • Visions and Vices: Essays on John Cowper Powys (1989)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Hodges, S, (1981), God's Gift: A Living History of Dulwich College, pages 87, (Heinemann: London)
  2. ^ a b c G. Wilson Knight, Principles of Shakespearian Production, Pelican Books, 1949, back cover text
  3. ^ "G. Wilson Knight Collection - Discover Archives". discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2019-05-16.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Borklund, Elmer. (1977). Contemporary Literary Critics. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 307. ISBN 978-1-349-81477-0
  5. ^ Domelen, John E. Van. (1987). Tarzan of Athens: A Biographical Study of G. Wilson Knight. Redcliffe. p. 149
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