Brander Matthews
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| James Brander Matthews | |
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 Matthews in middle age |
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| Born | February 21, 1852 New Orleans, USA |
| Died | March 31, 1929 New York City, USA |
| Occupation | Professor of Dramatic Literature |
| Nationality | USA |
James Brander Matthews (born February 21, 1852 in New Orleans; died March 31, 1929 in New York City), was a U.S. writer and educator. Matthews was the first U.S. professor of dramatic literature. He graduated from Columbia College in 1871, where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall, and from Columbia Law School in 1873, but turned to a literary career. From 1892 to 1900 he was professor of literature at Columbia, and thereafter held the chair of dramatic literature. His influence was such that a popular pun claimed that an entire generation had been "brandered by the same Matthews".
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[edit] Activities
He was one of the founders of the Authors' Club and of the Players' Club, both of New York; one of the organizers of the American Copyright League; a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and president (1913) of the National Institute of Arts and Letters; the first chairman (1906) of the Simplified Spelling Board; and president of the Modern Language Association of America (1910). In 1907 the French government decorated him with the Legion of Honor.
[edit] Twain's criticism of
In his essay critiquing the fiction of James Fenimore Cooper, "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses," Mark Twain criticizes Matthews' statements concerning the merits of Cooper's literary works.
[edit] Works
His works cover various topics and subjects.
- The Theatres of Paris (1880)
- French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century (1881; revised in 1891 and 1901)
- Margery's Lovers (1884)
- Actors and Actresses of the United States and Great Britain (five volumes, 1886), with Laurence Hutton
- In the Vestibule Limited (1892)
- Americanisms and Briticisms (1892)
- The Decision of the Court (1893)
- Vignettes of Manhattan (1894)
- Studies of the Stage (1894)
- His Father's Son (1895), a novel
- Aspects of Fiction (1896; revised in 1902)
- An Introduction to the Study of American Literature (1896)
- Studies in Local Color (1898)
- A Confident To-Morrow (1900)
- The Action and the Word (1900)
- The Historical Novel and Other Essays (1901)
- Parts of Speech, Essays on English (1901)
- The Philosophy of the Short-Story (1901)
- The Development of the Drama (1903)
- The Short Story (1907)
- Americans of the Future and Other Essays (1909)
- Molière: His Life and Works (1910)
- Introduction to the Study of American literature (1911)
- Shakespeare as a Playwright (1913)
- On Acting (1914)
- The Oxford Book of American Essays (1914)
- These Many Years (1917), his autobiography
- Principles of Playmaking (1919)
- Playwrights on Playmaking (1923)
This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
[edit] Further reading
- Ashton, Susanna M. (2000). "Authorial Affiliations, Brander Matthews in Partnership". Symploke: A Journal of Comparative Theory and Literature 7 (1-2).
