William Archer

William Archer (September 23, 1856 - December 27, 1924), English critic, was born in Perth, and was educated at Edinburgh University.

He became a leader-writer on the Edinburgh Evening News in 1875, and after a year in Australia returned to Edinburgh. In 1879 he became dramatic critic of the London Figaro, and in 1884 of the World. In London he soon took a prominent literary place.

Mr Archer had much to do with introducing Ibsen to the English public by his translation The Pillars of Society, produced at the Gaiety Theatre, London, 1880. He also translated, alone or in collaboration, other productions of the Scandinavian stage: Ibsen's Dolls House (1889), Master Builder (1893); Edvard Brandes's A Visit (1892); Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1892); Little Eyolf (1895); and John Gabriel Borkman (1897); and he edited Henrik Ibsen's Prose Dramas vols., 1890-1891).

Among his critical works are:

• English Dramatists of To-day (1882)
• Masks or Faces? (1888)
• five volumes of critical notices reprinted, The Theatrical World (1893)
• America To-day, Observations and Reflections
• Poets the Younger Generation (1901)
• Real Conversations (1904)
• The Old Drama and the New (1923)

Play:

• The Green Goddess (1923)

Reference

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.