Re: On the Myth of Milman Parry
"DANIEL P. Tompkins" <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.education.classics |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Terrific. Did Dad know Norman Maclean (“River Runs Through It”?) Everyplace was worried about $ in the ‘30s. The president of Columbia, after promising otherwise, halved the pay of Dewey and Boas. Allen Nevins wrote a friend that the History Dept was relieved when Merle Curti left for Wisconsin, adding that the university depended on undergraduate tuition. Holyoke was never wealthy.... A different world. Explains the concern of Bell, Finley, Merton et al for ... money. This astounded (some) Brits at a Cambridge conference in 2012. Dan Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 14, 2019, at 8:19 AM, Owen Cramer <[email protected]> wrote: > > Fascinating! I've been wondering about Parry's death nearly all my life, but not constructively enough to undertake what Steve Reece has now done, a comprehensive look at what evidence there is. Harvard has been protective of its own in often commendable ways, and I had assumed that there might be truth in the suicide rumors and that pious cover-up had made it unlikely we would ever know the whole story. Carelessness with firearms is a national issue, more even today than in 1935, and in that sense I suppose Parry's death is tragic and not simply "pointless." I do think that insecurity in academic appointments, in that depression period, might have loomed large in Parry's mind. I don't suppose that there's definitive evidence that he had been assured that, after the next three-year appointment and assuming publication of something like The Singer of Tales, he would get the tenured spot he must have wanted. My father, a younger and less-adventurous scholar with a Princeton Ph.D. (1935), languished at Mt. Holyoke with annual pay-cuts after marrying one of their star students (also in 1935)--he thought they might be discriminating against him, but maybe they were just poor. He left there for the sketchy University of Tampa and a dead-end visiting appointment back at Princeton before catching on at the University of Chicago in the undergraduate college in 1945. Tenure was a problem even back then. > Thanks for sharing this. > Owen Cramer > > -----Original Message----- > From: Classical Greek and Latin Discussion Group <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Steve T Reece > Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2019 6:07 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: On the Myth of Milman Parry > > This email originated outside Colorado College. Do not click links or attachments unless you know the content is safe. > > > Thanks for the heads-up! > > I believe this link will take you to my piece on Parry. > > Again, I'd appreciate any feedback. There has been so much misinformation circulating about the life and death of Milman Parry that I am fearful of adding further to it. > > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fdocument%2Fd%2F1ApjYRuK8-o7wfrmr9tDqJIvo_C37Cw0SfQfdPbilohE%2Fedit%3Fusp%3Dsharing&data=02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C9c05cccea61c4d11179908d67a47448c%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C636830843864467676&sdata=yUAmkPna%2F%2BrxVpRdtRfAny16Ga3i4azV4xvkDPXfusE%3D&reserved=0 > > > Steve Reece > > > On Sun, Jan 13, 2019 at 4:51 PM Patrick T. Rourke <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Attachments are stripped by the listserv (this is to protect >> subscribers from viruses). Could you provide a link to a download? >> >> Thanks! >> Patrick Rourke >> >> >> ____________ >> P. T. Rourke >> >>> On Jan 13, 2019, at 5:37 PM, Steve T Reece < >> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Dear Classics Colleagues, >>> >>> >>> >>> A few years ago – well, I see now that it was way back in 1993 - >>> there occurred a sustained and wide-ranging discussion on this list >>> about the untimely and tragic deaths of scholars who had worked in >>> the field of Homeric Studies: Milman Parry, Adam Parry, Anne Amory >>> Parry, Michael Ventris, and Colin MacLeod. There was particular >>> interest in Milman Parry’s life, death, and status at Harvard >>> University. In that >> discussion, >>> and since then, I’ve observed that there has been a lot of >>> “fluidity” in the details of both the “oral tradition” and the >>> written accounts about Milman Parry. A fairly rich myth has >>> developed about the man, his life, and his early death. I’ve >>> collected details from the police report, coroner’s report, death >>> certificate, and contemporary newspaper accounts, with some >>> background details drawn from national censuses, city records, >>> passport applications, ship manifests, etc. and from other >>> contemporary accounts by people who knew the Parry’s, and I’ve >>> discovered that while these details paint an interesting human >>> portrait of Parry in his final days, they lack the sensational >>> features of the “mythic” accounts. I’m happy to share this in the attached document and request additions, subtractions, and corrections from those inclined to read it. >>> >>> >>> >>> Best regards, >>> >>> >>> >>> Steve Reece >>> >>> Professor of Classics >>> >>> St. Olaf College >>> >>> >>> >>> [email protected] >>> >>> -- >>> >>> Steve Reece, Professor of Classical Languages Saint Olaf College, >>> Northfield, Minnesota (U.S.A.) 55057 >>> >>> Tomson Hall 347 (Office: 786-3378; Home: 663-7035) >>> >>> [email protected] >>> >>> >> https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwp.sto >> laf.edu%2Fclassics%2Fpeople%2Fsteve-reece%2F&data=02%7C01%7COCrame >> r%40COLORADOCOLLEGE.EDU%7C7fc347ee51b44666d5e108d679bc9b92%7Ccfc7b13c1 >> 2964387b3085de08fd13c99%7C1%7C0%7C636830248308124792&sdata=mdruEoj >> sFvI3Qrd%2FbU8IgdWyKW70ZdnBqAP%2Fw%2B8%2BKgA%3D&reserved=0 >>> >>> >> https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwp.sto >> laf.edu%2Fclassics%2F&data=02%7C01%7COCramer%40COLORADOCOLLEGE.EDU >> %7C7fc347ee51b44666d5e108d679bc9b92%7Ccfc7b13c12964387b3085de08fd13c99 >> %7C1%7C0%7C636830248308124792&sdata=n4nW95keH8xaDCAVmfoeuMY9W9H2ZJ >> h1%2BK26tb%2BO2Z4%3D&reserved=0 >>> [image: St. Olaf College] >> > > > -- > > Steve Reece, Professor of Classical Languages Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota (U.S.A.) 55057 > > Tomson Hall 347 (Office: 786-3378; Home: 663-7035) > > [email protected] > > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwp.stolaf.edu%2Fclassics%2Fpeople%2Fsteve-reece%2F&data=02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C9c05cccea61c4d11179908d67a47448c%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C636830843864467676&sdata=dx3gB%2B5WktrjtXd0sW26XVd9zYvorONdln425KJ9xZM%3D&reserved=0 > > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwp.stolaf.edu%2Fclassics%2F&data=02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C9c05cccea61c4d11179908d67a47448c%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C636830843864477677&sdata=Q0OFKJ5oH19gznpBC3vRFRaF7WQ7WF1sVnA4rSXVe6A%3D&reserved=0 > [image: St. Olaf College]