European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages by Ernst Robert Curtius

European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages Reviews

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  Dionysius the Areopagite

  Quite early on, as in the seventh or eighth sentence of the Epistles, Seneca notes that it is best to know the masters well rather than know a little bit about every sort of text. We see this vision more recently in the pedagogical offerings of Nabokov, Derrida, and Bloom, as well as in patterns of good men we may know or have heard of. With this man increasingly in agreement with Seneca since about age 26, i.e. zeroing in on mastery of the masters, rather than attempting to have a hand in every inconsequentially esoteric nook and cranny of seasonal subway fads, which then trickle into the lesser cities two years later and the towns a good five years later (I have seen this in my scholarly wanderings in terms of Robert(?) Bolano, Ugh Boots (V. fitting title), something profane I believe is entitled 'Pokeymon', &c. (Echoing Melville, as he echoed Job: "And I have only escaped to tell thee").
  
  The liberation in discarding that which is mainstream is the liberation of solitude; the contemplatives know it well. The summit of peace is solitude with adequate beverage, bread, and materials for whatever it is one loves most to do. Anyone - which is to say most - who believes that human freedom lies in solitude's opposite, masses of brainwashed fools demanding that which will annihilate them first, are of course caricatures of themselves. Ours is, in a word, a planet of caricatures.
  
  But in all of this, on a sleepless evening, I am getting at the fact that E.R. Curtius is indeed now officially part of my Heuristic Canon. We might add Augustine, Hegel, Lonergan, and Ingarden to this list too, with about 45 others that may be hidden now, but that shall in time be made manifest.
  
  For the professional scholar, the lay scholar, or even one with scholarly inclinations borne of a desire to simply become the polar opposite of what society considers 'progressive', one cannot hit the literary-critical mark much higher than Curtius here. Yes, you should have an encyclopedic knowledge of European Literature and the intention to actually work with Curtius's many notes; for I myself have often been derailed by Curtius amidst a seemingly innocent note which, in turn, leads me on 12-hour days frequenting innumerable bookstores and libraries around New York City. If one is at minimum respectably familiar with Goethe and, say, is willing to move backward through Latin-poetical time to, as Maritain would say, Distinguish in order to unite, then it would do one well to stop whatever one is doing and experience this testament's Heraclitean fire of the mind.
  
  It is, in brief, the sort of book one wishes one could go back in time and read for the first time again. And yet it is so erudite, prosaic, and flowing, that one is simultaneously cognizant that there is so much here that even the most painstaking, laborious first go cannot possibly digest everything. The yearning, then, may be related to the fact that it feels as though this text was composed not some decades ago, nor centuries, but on another planet altogether. This is holy despair: for now we must either right this wrong or support those who set out to do so (Mt. 7:16-20).
• 
  Brandon Hawk

  At the heart of this project, Curtius establishes three main currents: first, to demonstrate the centrality of the Middle Ages to European literature and culture; second, to establish the importance and study of medieval Latin literature; and, third, underlying the other two, to "[attack] the barbarization of education and the nationalistic frenzy... of the Nazi regime" (Curtius's "Forward to the English Translation," vii). In all of these, Curtius achieves his goals. While Latin rhetoric rests at the heart of the study--which much of the book revolving around this controlling principle--the details span a deep understanding of medieval culture, and the individual sections provide wonderful examinations still worthy of reference.
  
  Especially relevant for all medievalists (and all readers in general) are the first two chapters, "European Literature" and "The Latin Middle Ages." In their close titular associations, these chapters unsurprisingly establish the bases for the rest of Curtius's work, discussing the culture of the Middle Ages generally, the historiography of medieval studies, and how these issues fit into the wider realm of European culture and scholarship. The following two chapters also present basic foundations, discussing "Literature and Education" and "Rhetoric." For the rest of the chapters, Curtius mainly traces specific themes throughout various literatures, both creating and demonstrating a methodology of topological study. In all of these, the most important and lasting contribution to scholarship is the synthesis of topics: Curtius draws together many threads from medieval literature to weave a great single piece of art.
  
  Importantly, Curtius's work is both very accessible and still relevant for anyone interested in medieval studies: it is still cited and discussed, and (despite some datedness) remains a monument for both the general and particular arguments made. It is recommend it for students of European literature, medieval studies, and general interest.
• 
  Michael Stapleton

  I don’t think anyone could be educated well enough today to write a book like this.
• 
  Isabel Su

  After read this book, believe it's rightly for me to study comparative literature.
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  sasha

  this was one of the most important books when I studied.
• 
  Matthew Dambro

  The seminal work on Latin philology in the mid-20th Century. Incredibly detailed and learned survey of the use of language from late Antiquity through the 18th Century. Although done in the German style of Geschicte, Curtius was in fact a Francophile. During the Hitler era he was forced to move back to medieval studies to avoid the attention of the Gestapo. His thesis is somewhat dated; that all medieval literature is a continuation of Roman topos. It was at the forefront of research in the earl 1950s. My teacher, Norman Cantor, spent a great deal of energy refuting Curtius, but always granting his brilliance and new kind of historical research. This is a must read for anyone interested in European cultural history.
• 
  Elizabeth Pyjov

  literature is “a reservoir of spiritual energies through which we can flavour and ennoble our present-day life”
• 
  Katarina

  HRV: Pročitano za nastavu na faksu i korišteno u seminarima.
  
  ENG: Read for my college classes and used for seminars.
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  Александра Дыкан

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