On the Shoulders of Giants: The Post-Italianate EditionWith playfulness and a large dose of wit, Robert Merton traces the origin of Newton's aphorism, "If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Using as a model the discursive and digressive style of Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Merton presents a whimsical yet scholarly work which deals with the questions of creativity, tradition, plagiarism, the transmission of knowledge, and the concept of progress. "This book is the delightful apotheosis of donmanship: Merton parodies scholarliness while being faultlessly scholarly; he scourges pedantry while brandishing his own abstruse learning on every page. The most recondite and obscure scholarly squabbles are transmuted into the material of comedy as the ostensible subject is shouldered to one side by yet another hobby horse from Merton's densely populated stable. He has created a jeu d'esprit which is profoundly suggestive both in detail and as a whole."—Sean French, Times Literary Supplement |
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Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
allusion Anatomy of Melancholy anatopic ancient Aphorism appears Aubrey Azariah Bacon Bartlett Bartlett's Familiar Quotations behavior Bentham Bernard of Chartres Bernardian Burton century chapter citation claim course Didacus Stella discovery dwarfs edition English essay evidence fact Father figure George Sarton giant-and-dwarf giant-dwarf Goodman Gyants Hakewill Hakewill's Hooke hypothesis idea John Aubrey John of Salisbury Jones knowledge later Latin learning least letter Lucan matter Merton modern Newton Ogden Nash once original OTSOG Parvus-complex passage perhaps Peter of Blois philosopher phrase plagiarism Pope Priscian published quotation quoted Rabelais reader refer Robert Ross Sarton scholarly scholars scientific scientists Scriblerus seventeenth-century Shandean shoulders of giants simile sociological stand Stella in Luc story surely Swift tell Temple Temple's thing tion translation Tristram truth turn Umberto Eco Vives volume William word writing
Beliebte Passagen
Seite 125 - Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine;— they are the life, the soul of reading;— take them out of this book for instance,— you might as well take the book along with them...
Seite 92 - useful.' No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity of the world.
Seite 128 - As for us the Ancients, we are content with the bee to pretend to nothing of our own, beyond our wings and our voice, that is to say, our flights and our language. For the rest, whatever we have got, has been by infinite...
Seite 53 - This reflection has made me of late years very impatient for a peace, which I believe would save the lives of many brave words, as well as men. The war has introduced abundance of polysyllables, which will never be able to live many more campaigns...
Seite 125 - All the dexterity is in the good cookery and management of them, so as to be not only for the advantage of the reader, but also of the author, whose distress in this matter is truly pitiable : for if he begins a digression, from that moment, I observe his whole work stands stockstill ; and if he goes on with his main work, then there is an end of his digression. This is vile work.
Seite 81 - Antiquity deserveth that reverence, that men should make a stand thereupon, and discover what is the best way; but when the discovery is well taken, then to make progression. And to speak truly, Antiquitas saeculi juventus mundi. These times are the ancient times, when the world is ancient, and not those which we account ancient ordine retrograde, by a computation backward from ourselves.
Seite 132 - The other project was a scheme for entirely abolishing all words whatsoever ; and this was urged as a great advantage in point of health, as well as brevity. For it is plain, that every word we speak is, in some degree, a diminution of our lungs by corrosion ; and consequently contributes to the shortening of our lives.
Seite 162 - As apothecaries, we make new mixtures every day, pour ' out of one vessel into another ; and as those old Romans robbed all ' the cities of the world, to set out their bad-sited Borne, we skim off ' the cream of other men's wits, pick the choice flowers of their tilled ' gardens, to set out our own sterile plots.' Again, — ' We weave the same web still, twist the same rope again
Seite 69 - Some say the Pilgrim's Progress is not mine, Insinuating as if I would shine In name and fame by the worth of another, Like some made rich by robbing of their brother ; Or that so fond I am of being Sire, I'll father bastards ; or, if need require, .'. * I'll tell a lye in print, to get applause.— I scorn it ; John such dirt-heap never was, Since God converted him.
Seite 162 - Shall we for ever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another? Are we for ever to be twisting, and untwisting the same rope? for ever in the same track — for ever at the same pace?
Bibliografische Informationen
| Titel | On the Shoulders of Giants: The Post-Italianate Edition |
| Autor/in | Robert K. Merton |
| Ausgabe | illustriert, Neuauflage |
| Verlag | University of Chicago Press, 1993 |
| ISBN | 0226520862, 9780226520865 |
| Länge | 319 Seiten |
| Zitat exportieren | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |