John Stuart Blackie: Scottish Scholar and Patriot

About the Book

John Stuart Blackie was one of the most impressive and influential figures of nineteenth-century Scotland, as well as one of the most striking and flamboyant. As an intellectual he translated Goethe's Faust and brought first-hand knowledge of German philosophy to Scotland as a means of keeping the Enlightenment tradition alive. As first Professor of Humanity at Aberdeen from 1839 to 1852 and then as Professor of Greek at Edinburgh until 1882, he played a, perhaps the, central role in modernising the Scottish university curriculum, removing the dead hand of theological orthodoxy, raising standards (and the entry age), introducing tutorial teaching and establishing new chairs (including the Edinburgh chair of Celtic). His role in the reform of secondary school teaching was equally central.But Blackie was also a great 'public man', corresponding with great and famous throughout Great Britain and Europe, from Goethe and Carlyle to Ruskin and Gladstone, and filling the pages of newspapers and journals with writings on the major issues of the day. For the last thirty years of his life he became closely involved in issues of Scottish nationalism and home rule, and as champion of the crofters is largely responsible for their contemporary survival and unique status.Despite the existence of a rich archive of his papers and letters, there has been only one book devoted to his life: The Life of Professor John Stuart Blackie, the most distinguished Scotsman of the day, edited by J. G. Duncan and published in 1895.

About the Author :
Stuart Wallace is an independent scholar.

Review :
This is an extremely well researched and written biography of one of the most important and, till now, most neglected figures in nineteenth-century Scottish life. -- Pol O Dochartaigh Modern Language Review Wallace's detailed biographical account is illuminating... In an age of bloated biographies, this book is a model of lucid concision. -- Mick Morris, Open University Creative Studies Annual The interest of Blackie's lisfe does not lie in his works, to which few will nw turn, but in the milieux in which he moved, and these are evoked by Wallace in this entertaining book with great skill and sensitivity and with indefatigable scholarship. -- R. D. Anderson History: The Journal of the Historical Association Wallace has undertaken a commendable task in revealing Blackie, the man, and placing him in the academic, social, political, national and international context through which he lived. -- Iain Hutchison History Scotland Stuart Wallace's new biogrpahy has much to commend it: lucidly written, it marshals data and offers shrewd comment on social contexts, Scotland's universities, British and European identities and the role Blackie played in reforming priorities in Scottish educational and political self-determination... Blackie was legendary in his time. This book is a valuable reminder of why, and of the unfinished victories he spent his life struggling for. Every library should have a copy. -- Alan Riach, University of Glasgow Scottish Studies Newsletter This is an extremely well researched and written biography of one of the most important and, till now, most neglected figures in nineteenth-century Scottish life. Wallace's detailed biographical account is illuminating... In an age of bloated biographies, this book is a model of lucid concision. The interest of Blackie's lisfe does not lie in his works, to which few will nw turn, but in the milieux in which he moved, and these are evoked by Wallace in this entertaining book with great skill and sensitivity and with indefatigable scholarship. Wallace has undertaken a commendable task in revealing Blackie, the man, and placing him in the academic, social, political, national and international context through which he lived. Stuart Wallace's new biogrpahy has much to commend it: lucidly written, it marshals data and offers shrewd comment on social contexts, Scotland's universities, British and European identities and the role Blackie played in reforming priorities in Scottish educational and political self-determination... Blackie was legendary in his time. This book is a valuable reminder of why, and of the unfinished victories he spent his life struggling for. Every library should have a copy.