SOURCE: Schultz, John Richie. “The Life of Alexander Barclay.” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 18, no. 3 (July 1919): 360-68.

In the essay below, Schultz suggests that too many critics have focused on Ship of Fools in order to define Barclay's impact on English literature and proposes that literary critics examine the bulk of Barclay's writing as well as his biographical information in order to study his importance in literary history.

To students of literature the name of Alexander Barclay is linked with his Ship of Fools—a translation, or rather a derivation, from the Narrenschiff of Sebastian Brant. Brant's poem had such universal appeal that it was translated into several languages, and was popular throughout Europe in the sixteenth century. Barclay was fortunate in his original, and his rendition came at an opportune time. But the reputation of Barclay does not rest upon the Ship of Fools alone...