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James Brander Matthews (born February 21, 1852 in New Orleans; died March 31, 1929 in New York City), was a U.S. writer and educator. Matthews was the first U.S. professor of dramatic literature. He graduated from Columbia College in 1871 and from Columbia Law School in 1873, but turned to a literary career. From 1892 to 1900 he was professor of literature at Columbia, and thereafter held the chair of dramatic literature.
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Activities
He was one of the founders of the Authors' Club and of the Players' Club, both of New York; one of the organizers of the American Copyright League; a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and president (1913) of the National Institute of Arts and Letters; the first chairman (1906) of the Simplified Spelling Board; and president of the Modern Language Association of America (1910). In 1907 the French government decorated him with the Legion of Honor.
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Works
His works cover various topics and subjects.
The Theatres of Paris (1880)
French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century (1881; revised in 1891 and 1901)
Actors and Actresses of the United States and Great Britain (five volumes, 1886), with Laurence Hutton
In the Vestibule Limited (1892)
Americanisms and Briticisms (1892)
The Decision of the Court (1893)
Vignettes of Manhattan (1894)
Studies of the Stage (1894)
His Father's Son (1895), a novel
Aspects of Fiction (1896; revised in 1902)
An Introduction to the Study of American Literature (1896)
Studies in Local Color (1898)
A Confident To-Morrow (1900)
The Action and the Word (1900)
The Historical Novel and Other Essays (1901)
Parts of Speech, Essays on English (1901)
The Philosophy of the Short-Story (1901)
The Development of the Drama (1903)
Americans of the Future and Other Essays (1909)
Introduction to the Study of American literature (1911)
The Oxford Book of American Essays (1914)
Principles of Playmaking (1919)
Playwrights on Playmaking (1923)
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