G. Wilson Knight

Who was G. Wilson Knight?

George Richard Wilson Knight was an English literary critic and academic, known particularly for his interpretation of mythic content in literature, and his essays The Wheel of Fire on Shakespeare's drama. He was also an actor and theatrical director, and considered an outstanding lecturer.

He was educated at Dean Close School and Dulwich College and, after serving as a dispatch rider in World War I, at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he went into teaching. His first academic post was at Trinity College, Toronto in 1931. He taught at Stowe School from 1941 to 1946. In 1946 he became a Reader in English Literature at the University of Leeds. He remained at Leeds as Professor of English Literature from 1956 until his retirement in 1962.

The classical scholar William Francis Jackson Knight, of whom he wrote a biography, was his brother.