Bernard MacGregor Walker Knox

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Bernard MacGregor Walker Knox (born November 24, 1914 in Bradford , † July 22, 2010 in Bethesda, Maryland ) was an American classical philologist .

Life

Bernard Knox studied classics at St John's College of Cambridge University . After completing his bachelor's degree (1936), he fought in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War . In 1939 he married the American Betty Baur ( pseudonym Bianca van Orden); she died in 2006. The couple's son, MacGregor Knox , is a noted historian.

During World War II , Knox was in the US Army . In 1944 he supported the Resistance in Brittany , and from the spring of 1945 Italian partisans. Shortly before the end of the war, he decided to continue his studies in the field of classical philology. After the end of World War II, Knox studied at Yale University , where he received his MA and Ph.D. attained. He then worked as a lecturer at Yale University until he was appointed director of the Center for Hellenic Studies at Harvard University in 1961 . Shortly thereafter, Knox accepted an invitation from the University of California, Berkeley, to be a Sather Professor (1962/1963). He headed the 'Center for Hellenic Studies' until he retired in 1985. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 1977), the British Academy (since 1978) and the American Philosophical Society (since 1985).

Knox explored wide areas of ancient literature. His research focus was Greek tragedy and ancient theater . His publications were also aimed at the general public. In 1959, he published a translation of the tragedy King Oedipus , which served as the basis for a film series. In 1992 he received the United States' highest humanities honor: he was invited to deliver the Jefferson Lecture . His lecture was provocatively titled The Oldest Dead White European Males ("the oldest dead white European men ").

Fonts (selection)

  • Oedipus at Thebes . New Haven 1957. New Haven reissued in 1998
  • The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy . Berkeley / Los Angeles 1964 ( Sather Classical Lectures )
  • Word and Action: Essays on the Ancient Theater . 1979. Reprinted in 1986
  • Essays Ancient and Modern . 1989
  • The Oldest Dead White European Males and Other Reflections on the Classics . 1993. Reprinted in 1994
  • Backing Into the Future: The Classical Tradition and Its Renewal . 1994

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ GW Bowersock, "The Warrior-Humanist: Bernard MW Knox (1914-2010). The New Republic , September 4, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b Wolfgang Saxon, "Bernard Knox, 95, Classics Scholar, Dies" , New York Times , August 16, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Knox, Bernard MacGregor Walker
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knox, Bernard MW; Knox, Bernard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American classical philologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Bradford
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 2010
Place of death Bethesda, Maryland