Preface; 1. Introduction: where is philology?; 2. Philological awakening: William Jones and the architecture of learning; 3. The Anglo-Saxon revolution: John Mitchell Kemble and the paradigm; 4. The Philological Society of London: lexicography as national philology; 5. The professor and the reader: vernaculars in the academy; Epilogue: the closing of the phase of philology; Bibliography.
An exploration of how philology contributed to the study of English language and literature in the nineteenth century.
Haruko Momma is Professor of English at New York University. Her previous publications include The Composition of Old English Poetry (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
'Critics have been advocating a 'return to philology' for decades.
Leave it to Haruko Momma, a real philologist, to offer an erudite
and fluent history of the discipline and a powerful claim for its
endurance. She locates the origins of our contemporary teaching of
literature in the traditions of Indo-European linguistics, English
and German university scholarship, and American academic culture.
From Philology to English Studies is the best critical engagement
with the historical study of language - its institutions,
ideologies, and idioms - since the groundbreaking studies of Hans
Aarsleff nearly fifty years ago. It will be valued for as long.'
Seth Lerer, Dean of Arts and Humanities, University of California,
San Diego
'Momma presents a fascinating history of the golden age of English
language studies - or 'philology' in its many senses. In moving
among continental Europe, India, and England, the story that
emerges is animated by the powerful personalities of scholars like
William Jones, Jacob Grimm, James Murray, Max Müller, and Henry
Sweet. The publications they produced and the institutions they
shaped continue to leave their mark on us all: one need think no
further than the Oxford English Dictionary and the current place of
English studies within the university to get a sense of their
impact. While many of these luminaries are already widely known
anecdotally (such as Henry Sweet, for example, as the model for
Shaw's Dr Doolittle), Momma draws together their overlapping
careers in a compelling, coherent account like no other.' Daniel
Donoghue, John P. Marquand Professor of English, Harvard
University
'Momma's well-researched and crisply written book illuminates
important episodes in the history of English philology. Much of the
pleasure in reading the book comes from reading the early
philologists in their own words through the abundant quotations
Momma provides. These philologists can indeed turn a phrase, and
their prose is often humorous, even snarky, as in the cases of
Jones and Kemble. One notices how lively, as well as learned,
discussions about philological issues were.' Corey J. Zwikstra, The
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