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:
“I would observe to you that what is called style in writing or speaking is formed very early in life while the imagination is warm, and impressions are permanent.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Where there is no style, there is in effect no point of view. There is, essentially, no anger, no conviction, no self. Style is opinion, hung washing, the calibre of a bullet, teething beads.... One’s style holds one, thankfully, at bay from the enemies of it but not from the stupid crucifixions by those who must willfully misunderstand it.”
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“Hemingway was a prisoner of his style. No one can talk like the characters in Hemingway except the characters in Hemingway. His style in the wildest sense finally killed him.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)