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:
“A cultivated style would be like a mask. Everybody knows it’s a mask, and sooner or later you must show yourself—or at least, you show yourself as someone who could not afford to show himself, and so created something to hide behind.... You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.”
—Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980)
“Style is the dress of thoughts; and let them be ever so just, if your style is homely, coarse, and vulgar, they will appear to as much disadvantage, and be as ill received, as your person, though ever so well-proportioned, would if dressed in rags, dirt, and tatters.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“As the style of Faulkner grew out of his rage—out of the impotence of his rage—the style of Hemingway grew out of the depth and nuance of his disenchantment.”
—Wright Morris (b. 1910)