Andrew Gurr

Andrew John Gurr (born December 23, 1936) is a contemporary literary scholar who specializes in William Shakespeare and English Renaissance theatre.

Life and work

Born in Leicester, Gurr was raised in New Zealand, and educated at the University of Auckland and at Cambridge University. He has taught at the Universities of Wellington, Leeds, and Nairobi (1969-73); at the latter institution he was also head of his department. He taught at the University of Reading before his retirement.

Gurr co-wrote a 1981 study of Katherine Mansfield (with Claire Hanson) and two books on African literature; but he is best known for his books on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and the theatre of that historical era— books that are recognized and utilized as essential references on English Renaissance drama. He has authored a wide range of articles for both scholarly journals and general-interest periodicals, and has edited several of Shakespeare's plays and several plays in the John Fletcher canon. He was chief academic advisor to the project to rebuild the Globe Theatre in London and also advised on the construction of the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia, where he has also lectured at the Blackfriars Conference and for Mary Baldwin College's M.Litt/MFA Program. For ten years (1988-98), Gurr was the editor of the Modern Language Review.

Books by Andrew Gurr

*"The Shakespearean Stage, 1574–1642" (1970)
*"Black Aesthetics," with Pio Zimiru (1973)
*"Writers in East Africa," with Angus Calder (1974)
*"Playgoing in Shakespeare's London" (1987)
*"Rebuilding Shakespeare's Globe," with John Orrell (1989)
*"William Shakespeare: The Extraordinary Life of the Most Successful Writer of All Time" (1995)
*"The Shakespearean Playing Companies" (1996)
*"Staging in Shakespeare's Theatres," with Mariko Ichikawa (2000)
*"The Shakespeare Company" (2004)

ee also

* Joseph Quincy Adams
* G. E. Bentley
* E. K. Chambers
* R. W. Chambers
* W. W. Greg
* Alfred Harbage
* Cyrus Hoy
* Kenneth Muir
* T. M. Parrott
* Alfred W. Pollard
* Samuel Schoenbaum
* E. M. Thompson
* Charles William Wallace
* John Dover Wilson

External links

* [http://willyshakes.com/sonnet/index.htm Gurr on Sonnet 145.]

References

* Magill, Frank Northen, et al., eds. "Cyclopedia of World Authors." Pasadena, CA, Salem Press, 1997.