J. Dover Wilson

John Dover Wilson CH (July 13, 1881 - January 15, 1969) was a British Shakespeare scholar .

life and work

Dover Wilson was born in Mortlake ( Surrey , Greater London ). He attended Lancing College in Sussex and Gonville and Caius College . He was a lecturer at King's College London before being appointed Regius Professor of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh .

Wilson's life's work is linked to two scientific endeavors. Together with Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch , he was the editor of the New Shakespeare series at Cambridge University Press . His special attention was given to Shakespeare's Hamlet . His 1935 book What Happens in Hamlet is considered to be one of the most influential works on this drama of the 20th century.

Wilson has been criticized by contemporary scholars for his stubborn claims. His work on the difficult question of the transmission of the Shakespeare texts is highly respected, but his conclusions have been challenged by subsequent researchers. Some aspects of his work were viewed very critically early on. Peter Holland has pointed out that Wilson's and Quiller-Couch's theory of Shakespeare's punctuation was "effectively refuted as early as 1924." It is known that Wilson did not adhere to the bibliographical and editorial rules he developed himself when the result contradicted his opinion, which earned him a reputation for brilliant moodiness. Stanley Edgar Hyman, for example, criticizes the New Shakespeare edition of the CUP as valuable, but occasionally bizarre. Hyman's assessment has been corroborated by other scientists through individual studies. Wilson's interpretation of Hamlet's "Closet Scene" is considered as influential as it is questionable. Even Wilson's statements about a secret Lutheranism and his assumptions about Shakespeare's relationship with his son-in-law are mostly rejected as speculations. WW Greg once called Wilson's ideas “ the careerings of a not too captive balloon in a high wind. " designated.

Shortly before his death in 1969, Wilson penned his memoir under the title Milestones on the Dover Road .

Selected Works

The New Shakespeare . Cambridge University Press, 1921-1969.
Life in Shakespeare's England: A Book of Elizabethan Prose. Cambridge UP, 1911 (Reprinted by Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-108-00261-5 ).
The Elizabethan Shakespeare. Milford, 1929.
The Essential Shakespeare: A Biographical Adventure. Cambridge UP, 1932.
The Fortunes of Falstaff. Cambridge UP, 1944.
What Happens in Hamlet. 2nd edition. Cambridge UP, 1959.
Shakespeare's Happy Comedies. Faber and Faber, 1962.

Web links

Literature by and about J. Dover Wilson in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Individual evidence

↑ Wilson, John Dover . In: John Archibald Venn (Ed.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Part 2: From 1752 to 1900 , Volume 6 : Square – Zupitza . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1954, pp. 524 ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
↑ John D. Cox has examined Wilson's edition of Henry VI Part 3 in detail. Cox: Local References in 3 Henry VI. In: Shakespeare Quarterly. Volume 51, No. 3, 2000, p. 341.
↑ Stephen Orgel , for example, criticized the fact that Wilson, in the matter of a commentary on The Winter's Tale, “gave no indication of two hundred years of uncertainty, discussion and disagreement between different scholars.” Orgel: The Poetics of Incomprehensibility. In: Shakespeare Quarterly. Volume 42, No. 4, 1991, p. 432.
^ Holland: Modernizing Shakespeare: Nicholas Rowe and The Tempest. In: Shakespeare Quarterly. Volume 51, No. 1, 2000, p. 29.
^ Hyman: The Armed Vision: A Study in the Methods of Modern Literary Criticism. Knopf, New York 1955, p. 184.
↑ Patricia Parker notes that Wilson's interpretations "are rejected by almost all later authors." Parker: Othello and Hamlet: Dilation, Spying, and the 'Secret Place' of Woman. In: Representations. No. 44, 1993, p. 82.
^ Quote from Hyman, 184. Analogous; "A tethered balloon racing in the storm."

personal data
SURNAME	Wilson, J. Dover
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Wilson, John Dover (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British literary scholar and Shakespeare scholar
DATE OF BIRTH	July 13, 1881
DATE OF DEATH	15th January 1969

[1] Wilson, John Dover . In: John Archibald Venn (Ed.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Part 2: From 1752 to 1900 , Volume 6 : Square – Zupitza . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1954, pp. 524 ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

[2] John D. Cox has examined Wilson's edition of Henry VI Part 3 in detail. Cox: Local References in 3 Henry VI. In: Shakespeare Quarterly. Volume 51, No. 3, 2000, p. 341.

[3] Stephen Orgel , for example, criticized the fact that Wilson, in the matter of a commentary on The Winter's Tale, “gave no indication of two hundred years of uncertainty, discussion and disagreement between different scholars.” Orgel: The Poetics of Incomprehensibility. In: Shakespeare Quarterly. Volume 42, No. 4, 1991, p. 432.

[4] Holland: Modernizing Shakespeare: Nicholas Rowe and The Tempest. In: Shakespeare Quarterly. Volume 51, No. 1, 2000, p. 29.

[5] Hyman: The Armed Vision: A Study in the Methods of Modern Literary Criticism. Knopf, New York 1955, p. 184.

[6] Patricia Parker notes that Wilson's interpretations "are rejected by almost all later authors." Parker: Othello and Hamlet: Dilation, Spying, and the 'Secret Place' of Woman. In: Representations. No. 44, 1993, p. 82.

[7] Quote from Hyman, 184. Analogous; "A tethered balloon racing in the storm."