Bernard Knox (1914–2010)
Author of The Norton Book of Classical Literature
About the Author
Bernard Knox was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire on November 24, 1914. After studying classics at St. John's College, Cambridge, he fought with the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. In 1939, he married Betty Baur and began teaching Latin at a private school in Greenwich, Connecticut. show more During World War II, he served in the United States Army where he parachuted into France to work with the resistance and went on to join the partisans in Italy. He received a Bronze Star and the Croix de Guerre for his service. He received a doctorate from Yale University in 1948. He also taught at Yale University, becoming a full professor in 1959, and became the founding director of Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies, a position he held until 1985. He was an authority on the works of Sophocles and his first book was Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles' Tragic Hero and His Time (1957). He also edited the anthology The Norton Book of Classical Literature (1993). His essay appeared in numerous publications including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic and The New York Review of Books. They were also collected in numerous books including The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy (1964), Word and Action: Essays on the Ancient Theater (1980), and The Oldest Dead White European Males and Other Reflections on the Classics (1993). He received numerous honorary degrees and distinctions during his lifetime including the George Jean Nathan Award for dramatic criticism in 1977; the Charles Frankel Prize of the National Endowment of the Humanities in 1990; and the Jefferson Medal of the Philosophical Society of America in 2004. He died of a heart attack on July 22, 2010 at the age of 95. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Carefully Selected Garbage
Works by Bernard Knox
The Oldest Dead White European Males: And Other Reflections On the Classics (1993) 208 copies, 5 reviews
The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Volume 1, Greek Literature, Part 2, Greek Drama (1989) — Editor — 44 copies
The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Volume 1, Greek Literature, Part 1, Early Greek Poetry (1989) — Editor — 43 copies
The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Volume 1, Greek Literature, Part 4: The Hellenistic Period and the Empire (1989) — Editor — 22 copies
The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Volume 1, Greek Literature, Part 3, Philosophy, History and Oratory (1989) — Editor; Editor — 18 copies, 1 review
The Ajax of Sophocles 1 copy
Classical Literature 1 copy
Associated Works
Antigone / Oedipus Rex / Oedipus at Colonus (0442) — Introduction, some editions — 15,184 copies, 62 reviews
The Black Hunter: Forms of Thought and Forms of Society in the Greek World (1981) — Foreword, some editions — 92 copies
Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome: Trust in the Gods, but Verify (2005) — Foreword, some editions — 28 copies
Yale Classical Studies. Volume 13 — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Knox, Bernard
- Legal name
- Knox, Bernard MacGregor Walker
- Birthdate
- 1914-11-24
- Date of death
- 2010-07-22
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Battersea Grammar School, London, UK
St John's College, Cambridge University (BA|1936)
Yale University (MA|Ph.D|1948) - Occupations
- professor
classicist
translator - Organizations
- Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies
Yale University
United States Army (WWII)
International Brigades - Awards and honors
- Charles Frankel Prize (1990)
American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1977)
American Philosophical Society (1985)
Thomas Jefferson Medal (2004)
Jefferson Lecture (1992)
PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay (1990) (show all 10)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (1967)
George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism (1977)
Croix de Guerre (1945)
Bronze Star (2x, 1945) - Relationships
- VanOrden, Bianca (wife)
Knox, MacGregor (son) - Short biography
- Knox fought with the XI th. International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War from 1937 to 1938. He was badly wounded. In World War II he was, as a soldier of the US Army, involved in covert US / British / French operations in France and Northern Italy.
- Cause of death
- heart failure
- Nationality
- USA
UK (birth) - Birthplace
- Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK (birth)
London, England, UK
Washington, D.C., USA
Bethesda, Maryland, USA - Place of death
- Bethesda, Maryland, USA
- Burial location
- Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Discussions
Bernard Knox dead at 95 in Ancient History (August 2010)
Reviews
Super interesting book. I especially liked the essay that discussed the humanities in education, which made several brilliant points about why exactly the humanities were started in the first place (basically, democracy) and why they are still important today. It spoke to me on a personal level, having acquired a humanities education in an increasingly tech-focused society, and I don't mind saying that it made me feel better about my choice.
The real jewel in this book is the final essay, show more "The Continuity of Greek Culture." Insightful and delightful - the pages melted by and it was over before I was ready. show less
The real jewel in this book is the final essay, show more "The Continuity of Greek Culture." Insightful and delightful - the pages melted by and it was over before I was ready. show less
Interesting. The philosophy got a little deep occasionally (OK, I don't usually read philosophy at all), but his notion of just how deep the roots of our current American/Western culture are in ancient Greece was very interesting. And now I want to read some of those Greek plays - I have some, never got around to reading them.
Oh, and only one of the three essays/speeches that made up the book was specifically about defending the notion that DWEM have something to contribute nowadays - the show more other two, and the foreword, mostly focused on _how_ they do, not _whether_ they do. Made it more interesting - both sides of that argument tend to get a bit strident. show less
Oh, and only one of the three essays/speeches that made up the book was specifically about defending the notion that DWEM have something to contribute nowadays - the show more other two, and the foreword, mostly focused on _how_ they do, not _whether_ they do. Made it more interesting - both sides of that argument tend to get a bit strident. show less
Much as I love Knox, this is actually inessential. A little defensive in parts and doesn't say anything you didn't already know. Why should we read the classics? Because they have awesome fight scenes, shut up.
Way too complicated for me, I need more of a beginner's guide!
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- Works
- 22
- Also by
- 19
- Members
- 1,456
- Popularity
- #17,648
- Rating
- 4.0
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- 7
- ISBNs
- 26
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