Edgar Allison Peers facts for kids

Edgar Allison Peers (born May 7, 1891 – died December 21, 1952) was an English expert in Spanish language and culture, known as a Hispanist. He also studied how universities are managed. He worked as a professor at the University of Liverpool.

Peers is famous for starting the Modern Humanities Research Association in 1918. He also founded the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies in 1934. He used a secret pen name, Bruce Truscot, to write books about problems in British universities. He even created the well-known phrase "red-brick university".

Edgar Peers' Early Life and Education

Edgar Peers was born on May 7, 1891, in Leighton Buzzard, England. His father, John Thomas Peers, was a civil servant.

He went to Dartford Grammar School and then to Christ's College, Cambridge. He was a very good student there. In 1910, he earned a degree in English and French from the University of London. In 1912, he got a top degree in medieval and modern languages from Cambridge.

After getting a teaching diploma in 1913, Peers taught modern languages. He worked at Mill Hill School, Felsted School, and Wellington College.

Professor at Liverpool University

In 1920, Edgar Peers became a lecturer in Spanish at the University of Liverpool. Just two years later, in 1922, he became a full professor of Spanish at the university. He stayed there for the rest of his life.

At Liverpool, Peers taught many classes and wrote a lot about Spanish studies. He went to conferences and visited schools to share his knowledge. His most important work was on 19th-century Romanticism and 16th-century mysticism in Spain. Many of his books were translated into Spanish and published in Spain.

In 1923, he started a quarterly magazine called the Bulletin of Spanish Studies. This magazine later became the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies in 1949. He was the editor of this publication until he died. In 1934, he also founded the Institute of Hispanic Studies at Liverpool.

Peers married Marion Young on March 19, 1924. They did not have any children. He died on December 21, 1952, in Liverpool, due to heart failure.

Who Was Bruce Truscot?

The Victoria Building at the University of Liverpool was built in 1892. Like many university buildings from that time, it is made of red bricks.

Edgar Peers had strong opinions about how higher education should work. In 1943, he published a book called Redbrick University. This book was quite famous and caused some debate. In it, Peers argued that research was more important than teaching at universities.

The "Redbrick University" in the book was a made-up name for modern, city-based universities. These universities, like his own in Liverpool, were often built in the Victorian era and used red bricks. The term "redbrick university" then became a common way to describe these types of universities.

Because his ideas were a bit controversial, Peers wrote this book using the secret name "Bruce Truscot." No one knew he was the author until after he passed away in 1952. He wrote two more books under this name: Redbrick and these Vital Days (1945) and First Year at the University (1946). These books continued to explore his ideas about universities.

Selected Works by Edgar Allison Peers

Peers translated many Spanish works into English. These included the complete writings of St John of the Cross (in three books, 1934–5) and St Teresa of Ávila (five books, 1946–51). He also translated and wrote a biography of Ramon Llull in 1929.

Other important books he wrote include:

• Elizabethan Drama and its Mad Folk (1914)
• The Origins of French Romanticism (1920, with M. B. Finch)
• Studies of the Spanish Mystics (1927–30, 2 volumes)
• Spain, a Companion to Spanish Studies (1929)
• Spain, a Companion to Spanish Travel (1930)
• The Pyrenees, French and Spanish (1932)
• The Spanish Tragedy (1936)
• Catalonia infelix (1937)
• A Handbook to the Study and Teaching of Spanish (1938)
• Spain, the Church and the Orders (1939)
• History of the Romantic Movement in Spain (1940, 2 volumes)
• The Spanish Dilemma (1940)
• Spain in Eclipse (1943)
• A Critical Anthology of Spanish Verse (1948)

Works Published as Bruce Truscot

• Redbrick University (1943)
• Redbrick and these Vital Days (1945)
• First Year at the University (1946)

See also

In Spanish: Edgar Allison Peers para niños