From 1976 until his retirement in 2002 he was professor of English at the University of Reading (head of department, 1979–86), where he taught Shakespeare studies and where he is now Emeritus Professor.
Gurr co-wrote a 1981 study of Katherine Mansfield (with Claire Hanson) and two books on African literature; but he is best known for his books on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and the theatre of that historical era—books that are recognized and utilized as essential references on English Renaissance drama. He has authored a wide range of articles for both scholarly journals and general-interest periodicals, and has edited several of Shakespeare's plays and several plays in the John Fletcher canon. He was chief academic advisor to the project to rebuild the Globe Theatre in London and also advised on the construction of the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia, where he has also lectured at the biannual Blackfriars Conference and for Mary Baldwin University's M.Litt/MFA Program. For ten years (1988–97), Gurr was the English editor of the Modern Language Review and also edited The Yearbook of English Studies of the Modern Humanities Research Association, in which roles he was succeeded by Nicola Bradbury.[1]
Books by Andrew Gurr
Shakespeare's Opposites: The Admiral's Company 1594 - 1625 (2009) Cambridge University Press
King Richard II by William Shakespeare, editor, (1984) Cambridge University Press
Writers in Exile: the Identity of Home in Modern Literature (1981) Harvester Press
Katherine Mansfield, with Claire Hanson 1981 Macmillan
Hamlet and the Distracted Globe (1978) Scottish Academic Press (for Sussex University Press)
Black Aesthetics, editor with Pio Zimiru, (1974) East African Literature Bureau
Writers in East Africa, with Angus Calder (1973) East African Literature Bureau
The Maid's Tragedy by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, editor, (1969) University of California Press
Philaster by Beaumont and Fletcher, editor, (1969) Methuen
The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont, editor, (1968) University of California Press
References
^M.H.R.A. Annual Bulletin of the Modern Humanities Research Association 1999, p. 16 : "At the end of 1997, Professor A. J. Gurr relinquished the English Editorship of the Review and the Editorship of the Yearbook, both of which he had held since 1987. He is succeeded by Dr Nicola Bradbury, also of the University of Reading."
Magill, Frank Northen, et al., eds. Cyclopedia of World Authors. Pasadena, CA, Salem Press, 1997.
