author
George Saintsbury
1845–1933
A lively, wide-ranging critic who helped shape how generations of readers approached English and French literature. Best known for his energetic style and enormous learning, he also wrote memorably about books, language, and even wine.
15 Audiobooks
A History of Elizabethan Literature
by George Saintsbury
A history of criticism and literary taste in Europe from the earliest texts to the present day. Volume 2 (of 3), From the Renaissance to the decline of eighteenth century orthodoxy
by George Saintsbury
Sir Walter Scott
by George Saintsbury
A history of criticism and literary taste in Europe, from the earliest texts to the present day. Volume 1 (of 3), Classical and mediæval criticism
by George Saintsbury
The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory (Periods of European Literature, vol. II)
by George Saintsbury
A Letter Book Selected with an Introduction on the History and Art of Letter-Writing
by George Saintsbury
Historical Manual of English Prosody
by George Saintsbury
Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860
by George Saintsbury
Matthew Arnold
by George Saintsbury
A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895)
by George Saintsbury
A Short History of French Literature
by George Saintsbury
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century
by George Saintsbury
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800
by George Saintsbury
The English Novel
by George Saintsbury
About the author
Born in Southampton in 1845, George Saintsbury became one of the most influential English literary critics and historians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He studied at Merton College, Oxford, taught for a time in Edinburgh, and later built a major reputation through journalism, scholarship, and literary history.
His work covered an unusually broad range. He wrote on English and French literature, produced major studies such as A Short History of English Literature, A History of Criticism, and A History of the French Novel, and was admired for combining deep knowledge with a brisk, opinionated, readable style. He also edited classic authors and helped bring literary criticism to a wide general audience.
Saintsbury died in Bath in 1933. Alongside his literary scholarship, he was famously enthusiastic about food and drink, and his writing on wine gave him an additional afterlife beyond the world of criticism. That mix of serious learning and strong personal voice still makes him an unusually vivid figure among literary historians.