author
John Churton Collins
1848–1908
A lively Victorian critic, editor, and lecturer, he built his reputation on sharp literary judgment and an energetic defense of serious reading. His work ranges from studies of writers like Voltaire, Swift, and Shakespeare to essays that helped shape English literature as a university subject.
1 Audiobook
Ephemera Critica; Or, Plain Truths About Current Literature
by John Churton Collins
About the author
Born at Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire on 26 March 1848, he was educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, and then at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1872. He went on to make his living as a journalist, essayist, lecturer, and teacher, becoming well known in literary circles for his forceful opinions and wide reading.
His books include studies of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Voltaire in England, Jonathan Swift, and Shakespeare, along with collections of essays and literary criticism. Sources also describe him as a poet, editor, and lecturer, showing how varied his career was across criticism, scholarship, and public literary life.
In 1894 he became professor of English literature at Birmingham, a role he held during the last years of his life. He died on 15 September 1908, and he is still remembered chiefly as a British literary critic whose energetic, sometimes combative style made him a noticeable figure in late Victorian letters.