Style
Creel came from a generation of sinologists who learned Chinese before any of the modern language pedagogy techniques had been developed, and before there were any reliable dictionaries to assist an understanding of the classical Chinese, rather than modern Chinese, meaning of the Chinese characters in a particular text.
His insistence on introducing students to Chinese through the ancient classical texts, without prior exposure to the modern language, remains a point of controversy. His arrival on the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1936 placed it prominently on the sinological map, where it has enjoyed a prominent place ever since.
Although Creel styled himself as a specialist on early Chinese history, the history of Chinese philosophy, and the history of Chinese ruling institutions, his scope of work was much broader, and included work in archaeology and anthropology; epigraphy, philology and linguistics; cultural, intellectual, economic and institutional history; and philosophy, literature and art.
Creel died at his home in Palos Park, Illinois, after a long illness, on June 1, 1994 at the age of 89.
Read more about this topic: Herrlee Glessner Creel
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“One who has given up any hope of winning a fight or has clearly lost it wants his style in fighting to be admired all the more.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Carlyle must undoubtedly plead guilty to the charge of mannerism. He not only has his vein, but his peculiar manner of working it. He has a style which can be imitated, and sometimes is an imitator of himself.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)