Brian Vickers (academic)
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Sir Brian William Vickers (born 13 December 1937) is a British academic, now Emeritus Professor at
ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...
. He is known for his work on the history of
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
,
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...
, and
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
. He joined the English department at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
as a visiting professor in 2012.


Life

He was born in
Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
, 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. It was open from 1792 to 1981. History Philological School Founded as the Philological Society by Thomas Collingwood, under the ...
, London and at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 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 ...
, 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 ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
from Cambridge in 1967, and was a fellow of
Downing College Downing College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, ...
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 for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies 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 sa ...
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 scholars ...
,
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
since 2004. He was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
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 publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.


Works

* (ed.) ''The Man of Feeling'' by Henry Mackenzie (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 is a Latin abstract term which has a variety of meanings, including leisure time for "self-realization activities" such as eating, playing, relaxing, contemplation, and Academy, academic endeavors. It sometimes relates to a time in a person's ...


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 Academic staff of ETH Zurich People educated at St Marylebone Grammar School