HUGH BLAIR
Hugh Blair (1718-1800) was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland and author. He was one of the first theorists of literature and held the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh. He was born in Edinburgh where he studied philosophy and literature. In 1741 he became a Presbyterian preacher and in 1757 he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by the church of Saint Andrews. He began to teach literary theory at Edinburgh University in 1759 and was one of the founder members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783. His main works are Sermons (1777-1801) and Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres (1783).
The fragments:
Blair’s Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres (1783) is a collection of 47 essays based on his lectures at the University of Edinburgh and covers a wide range of aspects of literary composition. Its observations are based both on classical authors (Quintillian, Cicero) and modern literati, such as Addison and Burke. In Blair’s opinion, literary taste is rooted in the aesthetic qualities of nature, which provides the basic rules for rhetorical discourse. Blair’s theories remained influential throughout the 18th century. In a section on ‘a very insignificant class of writings, known by the name of Romances and novels’, Blair comments upon the qualities of fictitious stories and its negative aspects, referring to the ‘Arabian Night’s Entertainments’ as ‘the production of a romantic invention, but of a rich and amusing imagination; exhibiting a singular and curious display of manners and characters, and beautiful with a very humane morality’. (p. 421)
Sources/references:
Muhsin Jassim Ali, Scheherazade in England; a study of nineteenth-century English criticism of the Arabian nights, Three Continents Press, Washington 1981.
John Hill, An account of the life and writings of Dr. Hugh Blair, digital text: Leopold Classic Library (2016).
‘Editors’ introduction,’ in Hugh Blair, Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres, eds. Linda Ferreira-Buckley/ S. Michael Halloran, Southern Illinois University Press. Carbondale 2005.
Weblinks:
http://www.msu.edu/user/ransford/ (MSU)
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/blair_hugh.htm (Electric Scotland)