Alfred Harbage

Who was Alfred Harbage?

Alfred Bennett Harbage was an influential Shakespeare scholar of the mid-20th century. He was born in Philadelphia and received his undergraduate degree and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. He lectured on Shakespeare both there and at Columbia before becoming a professor at Harvard University, where he taught for many years. He was the General Editor of the Pelican Books edition of the works of Shakespeare. He also wrote a number of well-received books on Shakespeare's works, among them Shakespeare's Audience, As They Liked It, Shakespeare and the Rival Traditions, and Shakespeare Without Words.

Though best known for his work on Shakespeare, Harbage's literary scholarship extended to his successors too; he did important work on a range of seventeenth-century figures. In this area, his books Thomas Killigrew, Cavalier Dramatist 1612-1683, Sir William Davenant, Poet Adventurer 1606-1668, and Cavalier Drama are noteworthy. For an overview of the field, his Annals of English Drama 975-1700 is a compedium of original materials and a vital resource for scholarship.