Philology and the Shaping of the Modern Humanities

FAIN: FA-53017-07

James Crewdson Turner
University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN 46556-4635)

I plan a history of the emergence from philology of the modern humanities in British and American learning. Between 1820 and 1900 academic knowledge in the English-speaking world was transformed. Entirely new disciplines appeared, while some traditional fields of learning (such as classical languages) changed so greatly as to become new subjects. Several of these new or re-formed disciplines came to be called collectively "the humanities." These quickly became central to liberal education, yet no historian has examined at any length the phenomenon of the modern humanities as a whole and where they came from. The book will trace the history of philology from classical antiquity, focusing principally on Britain & America 1780-1920.

Associated Products

Philology: The Forgotten Origins of the Modern Humanities (Book)
Title: Philology: The Forgotten Origins of the Modern Humanities
Author: James Turner
Abstract: In Philology, the first history of Western humanistic learning as a connected whole ever published in English, James Turner tells the forgotten story of how the study of languages and texts led to the modern humanities and the modern university.The narrative traces the development of humanistic learning from its beginning among ancient Greek scholars and rhetoricians, through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Enlgihtenment, to the English-speaking world of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10209.html
Primary URL Description: Publisher's web site
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780691145648
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Prizes

Christian Gauss Award
Date: 12/4/2015
Organization: Phi Beta Kappa Society
Abstract: The Christian Gauss Award is offered for books in the field of literary scholarship or criticism. The prize was established in 1950 to honor the late Christian Gauss, the distinguished Princeton University scholar, teacher, and dean who also served as President of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Previous award winners include books written by eminent authors such as Harold Bloom, Christopher Benfey, Marjorie Garber, and Claudia Johnson.

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