Volume 48, Number 4 · March 8, 2001
A Passion for the Past
By Anthony Grafton
The Greeks and Greek Civilization
Jacob Burckhardt, edited by Oswyn Murray, translated from the German by Sheila Stern
St. Martin's, 449 pp., $27.95; $16.95 (paper)
Basel in the Age of Burckhardt: A Study in Unseasonable Ideas
Lionel Gossman
University of Chicago Press, 608 pp., $40.00
In 1852, a youngish scholar from Basel, Jacob Burckhardt, inscribed a copy of his first substantial book, The Age of Constantine the Great, 'with the greatest respect' to his teacher, Leopold von Ranke. The term Burckhardt wrote on the flyleaf—hochachtungsvoll—belonged to the German language's ample repertoire of conventional salutations, but he used it with sincerity. In the 1840s he had studied history and art history in Berlin. As late as 1889, when Burckhardt followed a Basel custom and wrote the eulogy to be read aloud at his own memorial service, he eloquently recalled how he had 'submitted two substantial pieces of work to Ranke's seminar and received the great teacher's approval as his reward.'[1]
Review, 6566 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |