WILLIAM

See also:

• WILLIAM ARCHER (1856— )

ARCHER (1856— )  , English critic, was born at Perth on the 23rd of September 1856, 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 of The Pillars of Society, produced at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in ,880 . He also translated, alone or in collaboration, other productions of the Scandinavian stage: Ibsen's Doll's House (1889), Master Builder (1893); Edvard Brandes's A Visit (1892); Ibsen's Peer Gyvtt (1892); Little Eyolf (1895); and John Gabriel Borkman (1897); and he edited Henrik Ibsen's Prose Dramas (5 vols., 1890-1891) . Among his critical works are: English Dramatists of To-day (1882); Masks or Faces ? (1888); five vols. of critical notices reprinted, The Theatrical World (1893—1897); America To-day, Observations and Reflections; Poets of the Younger Generation (19o1); Real Conversations (1904) .