A. C. Bradley
Andrew Cecil Bradley entered the world on the 26th of March 1851 at Park Hill in Clapham. This location sat within Surrey before becoming part of London. He was the youngest child among nine born to Charles Bradley and his second wife Emma Linton. His father served as vicar of Glasbury from 1789 until his death in 1871. The philosopher Francis Herbert Bradley stood as the fifth child of the same parents. Young Andrew pursued studies at Balliol College Oxford where he secured a fellowship in 1874. He began lecturing first in English then moved to philosophy by 1881.
Bradley accepted a permanent position at the University of Liverpool to lecture on literature after leaving Oxford. He relocated to Glasgow in 1889 to serve as Regius Professor. The year 1901 marked his election to the Oxford professorship of poetry. During these five years he produced two major works while holding this chair. He received honorary doctorates from Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh in 1899, and Durham. An offer for the King Edward VII chair at Cambridge came but he declined it. He lived with his sister at 6 Holland Park Road in Kensington until his death on the 2nd of September 1935. His will established a research fellowship for young scholars of English Letters.
The publication of Shakespearean Tragedy appeared in 1904 following his time as Oxford professor of poetry. All his published work originated as lectures delivered to students. Bradley's pedagogical manner combined with self-confidence guided many students toward understanding Shakespeare. Guy Boas wrote a poem titled Lays of Learning in 1926 that mocked this influence. The verse claimed Shakespeare answered questions about King Lear badly because he had not read Bradley. Critics noted Bradley sometimes treated characters as real people rather than dramatic constructs. Despite such criticism the book remains the most influential single work of Shakespearean criticism ever published. It has been reprinted more than two dozen times since its initial release.
By the mid-twentieth century scholars began discrediting Bradley's approach to drama. They argued his methods contained anachronistic errors regarding early 17th century society. Critics applied late 19th century novelistic conceptions of morality and psychology to earlier eras. Kenneth Burke published an article titled Othello: An Essay to Illustrate a Method in 1951. This piece countered a Bradleyan reading of character directly. L. C. Knights had previously challenged similar ideas in his 1933 essay How Many Children Had Lady Macbeth? F. R. Leavis apparently invented the question about children as mockery of current irrelevancies. Poststructuralist methods gained prevalence from the 1970s onward causing students to turn away from his work.
Scholars have recently returned to considering character as a historical category of evaluation. Michael Bristol stands among those who revisit these older frameworks today. Harold Bloom paid tribute to Bradley's place in the tradition of critical writing on Shakespeare. Bloom described his own book Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human as written in the wake of critics he admired most. Johnson, Hazlitt, and Bradley formed that specific group of admiration for him. Katherine Cooke wrote a scholarly book titled A. C. Bradley and His Influence in Twentieth-Century Shakespeare Criticism. The text examines how Bradley shaped criticism throughout the twentieth century. These modern returns suggest his influence persists despite earlier dismissals.
Bradley delivered the 1907, 1908 Gifford Lecture at the University of Glasgow under the title Ideals of Religion. He also presented the 1909 Adamson Lecture before the Victoria University of Manchester. The British Academy hosted his 1912 Shakespeare Lecture which became known as the Second Annual Shakespeare Lecture. Poetry for Poetry's Sake appeared in 1901 alongside A Commentary on Tennyson's in Memoriam. Aristotle's Conception of the State was published in Hellenica edited by Evelyn Abbott with a first edition in 1880. A Miscellany followed later in 1929. All these works expanded beyond his primary focus on Shakespearean drama to cover poetry and philosophy.
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Common questions
When and where was A. C. Bradley born?
Andrew Cecil Bradley entered the world on the 26th of March 1851 at Park Hill in Clapham. This location sat within Surrey before becoming part of London.
What major work did A. C. Bradley publish after his time as Oxford professor of poetry?
The publication of Shakespearean Tragedy appeared in 1904 following his time as Oxford professor of poetry. It has been reprinted more than two dozen times since its initial release.
Why did scholars begin discrediting A. C. Bradley's approach to drama by the mid-twentieth century?
Scholars argued his methods contained anachronistic errors regarding early 17th century society. Critics applied late 19th century novelistic conceptions of morality and psychology to earlier eras.
Where did A. C. Bradley live until his death on the 2nd of September 1935?
He lived with his sister at 6 Holland Park Road in Kensington until his death on the 2nd of September 1935. His will established a research fellowship for young scholars of English Letters.
Which lectures did A. C. Bradley deliver at the University of Glasgow and other institutions?
Bradley delivered the 1907, 1908 Gifford Lecture at the University of Glasgow under the title Ideals of Religion. He also presented the 1909 Adamson Lecture before the Victoria University of Manchester.