Brander Matthews

Lawrence Oliver (Texas A&M University)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 21 Feb 1852
Died 31 Apr 1929
Activity 1872-1929

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Cultural Theorist/ Critic
Essayist
Literary Critic/ Historian
Playwright / Dramatist
Scholar
Story-writer
Teacher/ Professor

Resources

Matthews' Works

Save to Bookshelf

Brander Matthews (1852-1929) was among the most influential American scholars and literary critics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A professor of dramatic literature at Columbia University (initially Columbia College) from 1892 to 1924, his specialty was the drama. His books such as

French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century

(1881),

The Development of the Drama

(1903), and

Shakespere As a Playwright

(1913) helped establish him as, arguably, the leading American authority in his field. Matthews's literary taste was, however, eclectic, and during his long career he published widely on American and British authors. His

An Introduction to the Study of American Literature

, initially published in 1896, was one of the first and most popular textbooks on American…

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192 words

Citation: Oliver, Lawrence. "Brander Matthews". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 October 2000 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2995, accessed 21 November 2024.]