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标题: Andrew Lang [打印本页]
作者: silver    时间: 2009-5-6 14:17     标题: Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang
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Andrew Lang


Andrew Lang (31 March 1844, Selkirk – 20 July 1912, Banchory, Kincardineshire) was a prolific Scots man of letters. He was a poet, novelist, and literary critic, and contributor to anthropology. He now is best known as one of the most important collector of folk and fairy tales.

The Andrew Lang lectures at St Andrews University are named for him.

Contents

    * 1 Biography
    * 2 Professions
          o 2.1 Folklore and anthropology
          o 2.2 Psychical research
          o 2.3 Classical scholarship
          o 2.4 Historian
          o 2.5 Other writings
    * 3 Works
          o 3.1 To 1884
          o 3.2 1885-1889
          o 3.3 1890–1899
          o 3.4 1900–1909
          o 3.5 1910–1912
          o 3.6 Posthumous
    * 4 References
    * 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Lang was the eldest of the eight children of John Lang, town clerk of Selkirk,and his wife, Jane Plenderleath Sellar, daughter of Patrick Sellar,factor to the first duke of Sutherland. On 17 April 1875 he marriedLeonora Blanche Alleyne, youngest daughter of C. T. Alleyne of Cliftonand Barbados.

He was educated at Selkirk grammar school, and at the Edinburgh Academy, St Andrews University and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a first class in the final classical schools in 1868, becoming a fellow and subsequently honorary fellow of Merton College. As a journalist, poet, critic and historian, he soon made a reputation as one of the most able and versatile writers of the day.
He died of angina pectoris at the Tor-na-Coille Hotel in Banchory, survived by his wife. He was buried in the cathedral precincts at St Andrews.

[edit]
Professions
[edit] Folklore and anthropology


"Rumpelstiltskin," from Lang's Fairy Tales.


Lang is now chiefly known for his publications on folklore, mythology, and religion. The earliest of his publications is Custom and Myth (1884). In Myth, Ritual and Religion (1887) he explained the "irrational" elements of mythology as survivals from more primitive forms. Lang's Making of Religion was heavily influenced by the 18th century idea of the "noble savage":in it, he maintained the existence of high spiritual ideas amongso-called "savage" races, drawing parallels with the contemporaryinterest in occult phenomena in England. His Blue Fairy Book (1889) was a beautifully produced and illustrated edition of fairy tales that has become a classic. This was followed by many other collections of fairy tales, collectively known as Andrew Lang's Fairy Books. Lang examined the origins of totemism in Social Origins (1903).

[edit] Psychical researchLang was one of the founders of "sychical Research" and his other writings on anthropology include The Book of Dreams and Ghosts (1897), Magic and Religion (1901) and The Secret of the Totem (1905). He served as President of the Society for Psychical Research in 1911.

[edit] Classical scholarshipHe collaborated with S.H. Butcher in a prose translation (1879) of Homer's Odyssey, and with E. Myers and Walter Leaf in a prose version (1883) of the Iliad, both still noted for their archaic but attractive style. He was a Homeric scholar of conservative views. Other works include Homer And The Study Of Greek found in Essays In Little (1891), Homer and the Epic (1893); a prose translation of The Homeric Hymns (1899), with literary and mythological essays in which he draws parallels between Greek myths and other mythologies; and Homer and his Age (1906).

[edit] HistorianLang's writings on Scottish history are characterised by a scholarlycare for detail, a piquant literary style, and a gift for disentanglingcomplicated questions. The Mystery of Mary Stuart (1901) was a consideration of the fresh light thrown on Mary Queen of Scots by the Lennox manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge, approving of her and criticising her accusers.
He also wrote monographs on The Portraits and Jewels of Mary Stuart (1906) and James VI and the Gowrie Mystery (1902). The somewhat unfavourable view of John Knox presented in his book John Knox and the Reformation (1905) aroused considerable controversy. He gave new information about the continental career of the Young Pretender in Pickle the Spy (1897), an account of Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell, whom he identified with Pickle, a notorious Hanoverian spy. This was followed by The Companions of Pickle (1898) and a monograph on Prince Charles Edward (1900). In 1900 he began a History of Scotland from the Roman occupation. The Valet's Tragedy (1903), which takes its title from an essay on Dumas's Man in the Iron Mask, collects twelve papers on historical mysteries, and A Monk of Fife (1896) is a fictitious narrative purporting to be written by a young Scot in France in 1429-1431.

[edit] Other writings


Andrew Lang at work.


Lang's earliest publication was a volume of metrical experiments, The Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), and this was followed at intervals by other volumes of dainty verse, Ballades in Blue China (1880, enlarged edition, 1888), Ballads and Verses Vain (1884), selected by Mr Austin Dobson; Rhymes à la Mode (1884), Grass of Parnassus (1888), Ban and Arrière Ban (1894), New Collected Rhymes (1905).
Lang was active as a journalist in various ways, ranging from sparkling "leaders" for the Daily News to miscellaneous articles for the Morning Post, and for many years he was literary editor of Longman's Magazine;no critic was in more request, whether for occasional articles andintroductions to new editions or as editor of dainty reprints.
He edited The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns (1896), and was responsible for the Life and Letters (1897) of JG Lockhart, and The Life, Letters and Diaries (1890) of Sir Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh. Lang discussed literary subjects with the same humour and acidity that marked his criticism of fellow folklorists, in Books and Bookmen (1886), Letters to Dead Authors (1886), Letters on Literature (1889), etc.

[edit] Works
Wikisource has original works written by or about:Andrew Lang



[edit] To 1884
[edit] 1885-1889
[edit] 1890–1899
[edit] 1900–1909
[edit] 1910–1912
[edit] Posthumous
[edit] ReferencesThis article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Andrew Lang
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Andrew Lang
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Lang"
                        Categories: 1844 births | 1912 deaths | Scottish folklorists | [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categoryeople_from_Edinburgh]People from Edinburgh[/url] | Scottish scholars and academics | Scottish historians | Scottish journalists | Scottish novelists | Scottish poets | Alumni of the University of St Andrews | Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford | Fellows of Merton College, Oxford | Collectors of fairy tales | Scottish children's writers | Victorian poetry



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