M. S. Cleary, Myths for the Millions. Thomas Bulfinch, His America, and His Mythology Book

Marie Sally Cleary, Myths for the Millions. Thomas Bulfinch, His America, and His Mythology Book,  Frankfurt am Main,  Peter Lang, coll. "Kulturtransfer und Geschlechterforschung" n° 4, 2007, xvi-414p.  

  Isbn (ean13): 978-3-631-51902-8.   

Recension par Kris Fletcher (Louisiana State University) dans Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2008.09.49

Présentation de l'éditeur:

This book presents the life and work of the American author Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867). He is famous for his book The Age of Fable; or, Stories of Gods and Heroes (Boston, 1855), also known as Bulfinch's Mythology. With it, he democratized for Americans the Greek and Roman myths which they needed to know in order to understand the literature which more and more of them, including women, were reading. The book was a landmark on the road to equality in education and is an all-time best seller. Bulfinch sympathized with the people - those without Latin - who did not know the myths because he spent most of his time with such men and women. Although he was well born and highly educated, he lived and worked modestly in order to help his struggling birth family. By examining letters of Thomas Bulfinch and his family and exploring life in the early American republic, including the role of the ancient classics, this book sheds light on the period and on Bulfinch's life and achievement.



Sommaire:

American Revolution - Loyalists - Charles Bulfinch in Europe - Charles Bulfinch, architecture - Children of Charles and Hannah Bulfinch - Women in the family - Boston Latin School - Phillips Exeter Academy - Great teachers of the era - Harvard University - Classical education in America - American scholars in Germany - War of 1812 - Washington, DC - The Capitol in Washington - Unitarianism - Slavery - Family correspondence - Transcendentalism - Feminist thinking - Boston Society of Natural History - Peabody Sisters - George Barrell Emerson - Boston Library Society - Boston Athenaeum - Hebrew Lyrical History (1853) - Women's education - The Age of Fable (1855) - Classical mythology in intellectual history - Use of classical myths by Margaret Fuller and others - Romantic view of mythology - Ovid, Metamorphoses - Schoolmasters' disapproval of Ovid - Mythology textbooks - Pedagogical nature of The Age of Fable - Reception of The Age of Fable - Bulfinch's later books - Revision of The Age of Fable by Edward Everett Hale.

 Marie Sally Cleary was born in Boston. She holds a B.A. in English, an M.A. in Classics, and an Ed.D. in Foundations of Education. Since 1983, she has been a member of the Associates Program for independent scholars, at Five Colleges, Inc., in Amherst. Earlier in her career, she taught Latin at Boston Latin School. She has taught at the university and college level, and directed many programs in the classics for teachers. Her main interest has been the democratization of the Greek and Roman classics in American education.