Name Lionel Knights Role Author | ||
Died March 8, 1997, Durham, England, United Kingdom Books Some Shakespearean themes, Hamlet and Other Shakesp, Selected essays in criticism, Explorations ‑ Essays in Criticism, How many children had Lady | ||
Education Selwyn College, Cambridge | ||
Lionel Charles Knights (15 May 1906 – 8 March 1997) was an English literary critic, an authority on Shakespeare and his period. His essay How many children had Lady Macbeth? (1933) is a classic of modern criticism. He became King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge in 1965.
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Early life
He was born and went to school in Grantham. He was educated at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he read History and English, graduating in 1928.
Literary career
He was a co-editor of Scrutiny, the literary journal of F. R. Leavis's school, from May 15, 1932 to 1953 when it ceased publication.
He was an English lecturer at the University of Manchester in 1933, then Professor of English Literature at the University of Sheffield in 1947 and the Winterstoke Professor of English at University of Bristol in 1953. From 1965-73, he was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge.
Personal life
He married Elizabeth Barnes in 1936. They had a son, Benjamin, and a daughter, Frances. Knights died in Durham in 1997.