F. R. Leavis
Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis CH (14 July 1895 – 14 April 1978) was an English literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for much of his career at Downing College, Cambridge, and later at the University of York.
F. R. Leavis CH | |
|---|---|
F. R. Leavis pictured in his Friends' Ambulance Unit uniform, 1915. | |
| Born | Frank Raymond Leavis 14 July 1895 |
| Died | 14 April 1978 (aged 82) Cambridge, England |
| Known for | New Bearings in English Poetry (1932) The Great Tradition (1948) The Common Pursuit (1952) Two Cultures? The Significance of C. P. Snow (lecture; 1962) |
| Spouse |
Queenie Leavis (m. 1929) |
| Children | 3 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
| Thesis | The Relationship of Journalism to Literature (1924) |
| Influences |
|
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Downing College, Cambridge University of York |
| Influenced |
|
Leavis ranked among the most prominent English-language critics in the 1950s and 1960s. J. B. Bamborough wrote of him in 1963: "it would be true to say that in the last thirty or more years hardly anyone seriously concerned with the study of English literature has not been influenced by him in some way."
According to Clive James, "You became accustomed to seeing him walk briskly along Trinity Street, gown blown out horizontal in his slipstream. He looked as if walking briskly was something he had practised in a wind-tunnel."