Exploring the marginal figures who contributed significantly to popularising the text of Shakespeare, Professor Murphy’s lecture ‘Shakespeare from the Periphery’ charted a chronological course from the print world of Shakespeare’s own time up to the modern-day digital era.
Presented by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the inaugural lecture is a tradition of Trinity College Dublin for newly appointed Chairs. The lecture represents the official recognition of their appointment, and the lecture itself provides an opportunity to showcase their achievements in research, innovation, engagement and teaching activities before an audience of members of the University community and the general public.
Left to Right: Prof Jarlath Killeen; Prof Gail McElroy; Prof Andrew Murphy; and Trinity Provost Dr Linda Doyle.
Introducing the inaugural lecture, Professor Gail McElroy, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, spoke about Professor Murphy’s “prolific career” having had a “major impact on the discipline of English”. She welcomed the Provost and President of Trinity College Dublin, Dr Linda Doyle, and other college officers and guests in attendance. Commenting on the prestige of the Chair of English, which was established in 1867, she said this was the first Chair of English literature on the island of Ireland, with many prominent scholars gracing this role over 150 years. She added that the contribution of these scholars has made Trinity’s School of English “one of the most outstanding Schools of English in the world”, placed 25th in the global rankings.
Professor Murphy opened his lecture with the fascinating story of how the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays was presented to the head librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC in 2008 to be “authenticated.” The subsequent arrest of Raymond Scott, an eccentric figure who claimed ownership of the edition, led authorities to discover that this ‘First Folio’ had been stolen from Durham University.
In describing the recovery of this most important and treasured literary work, Professor Murphy placed Shakespeare at the “centre of cultural power”, therefore setting the scene for how “Shakespeare’s journey to the centre begins.”
Throughout this fascinating lecture Professor Murphy went on to explore the role of figures very much at the cultural margins, such as Thomas Millington, who, in Shakepeare’s early career, was the first person to take a chance on publishing one of his plays, providing the first ‘proof of concept’ that it was worth publishing Shakespeare. Other figures that featured in Professor Murphy’s ‘case studies’ include Robert Walker (“who sold ‘snake oil’ type medications as well as books”), John Dicks, a working-class publisher who brought Shakespeare to the masses, and a computer programmer called Grady Ward, who produced the first digital complete works of Shakespeare in free-to-access format.
“Repeatedly, I would suggest, it has been in the periphery that Shakespeare's central position has been forged. And so it has been too in our own time. The Shakespeare of the present and future has come once again, and as always, to the centre from the margins.”
TLRHub · Professor Andrew Murphy Inaugural Lecture | Shakespeare from the Periphery
About Professor Andrew Murphy:
Professor Andrew Murphy was born in Limerick City. He worked in local government for a number of years before undertaking a degree in English and Psychology here in Trinity, graduating in 1986. He then worked for a spell for the London Borough of Waltham Forest, before moving to the US and studying at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, receiving his MA there, and graduating with a PhD in 1994.
A†fter his postgraduate work, Professor Murphy settled in the UK, working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire and then becoming a lecturer there. He moved to the University of St Andrews in 1998, remaining there for 20 years and serving eventually as Head of the School of English, and then Director of the Graduate School and Provost of St Leonard’s (St Andrews’ postgraduate college).
Professor Murphy’s research interests lie in the fields of Shakespeare Studies and Irish Studies -- and he also works at the intersection of these two areas of study. His first monograph was an exploration of the Irish context of early modern English literature, entitled But the Irish Sea Betwixt Us: Ireland, Colonialism, and Renaissance Literature. He followed this with a history of Shakespeare editing and publishing, Shakespeare in Print: A History and Chronology of Shakespeare Publishing. First published in 2003, the book has recently been re-issued in a revised and expanded new edition. He explored the growth of Shakespeare’s readership in the nineteenth century in Shakespeare for the People: Working-class Readers, 1800 1900, published in 2008. His most recent book is a study of literacy and nationalism in Ireland, entitled Ireland, Reading and Cultural Nationalism, 1790-1930. He has also published a short study of Seamus Heaney’s poetry, issued in three editions in the ‘Writers and the Work’ series.
Professor Murphy has received fellowships in support of his work from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust. He is currently completing work on an edited collection on ‘The Nation’ for the Cambridge University Press ‘Cambridge Themes in British Literature and Culture’ series and is working on a new edition of Shakespeare’s Henry V, also for Cambridge University Press.