26-10-2011, 04:52
(2/6)
Entre 1922 et 1925
« The Leed’s Songs » : E.V. Gordon [1896-1938], arrivé à l’Université de Leeds en 1922, réunit des poèmes de sa propre composition ainsi que d’autres de la main de Tolkien – dont « Lit’ and Lang’ » (Scull & Hammond, Reader’s Guide, p. 967)
Année 1925
[citation=Shippey, p. 140-141]« That sense of defeat [dans la vie universitaire de Tolkien] may be demonstrated by looking at three docu¬ments from Tolkien’s own life. The first comes from Tolkien’s application for the Oxford Chair of Anglo-Saxon vacated by W.A. Craigie [1867-1957], dated 27th June 1925. Its literary genre is obvious: the application for a future job which is also an extended boast about how well you have done in the current one. Tolkien says that at Leeds University, where he had been Reader since 1920 and Professor since 1924 :
The sub-text of this is again obvious. Note the remarks, “in no way isolated [ ... ] friendly rivalry [ ... ] growing neighbourliness,” and of course no more “connotations of terror.” Other evidence suggests that this was by no means completely true, and that the philologists and the critics at Leeds were as usual at daggers drawn – the Songs for the Philologists published in 1936 contains at least one poem by Tolkien cruelly mocking the literary students and the literary faculty. But Tolkien knew that the selection committee at Oxford would be looking for someone who was not going to cause trouble, who would co-operate with his modernist colleagues, and he made out that he was just the right person (as one does in such circumstances). He really could not have expected to be appointed to the Oxford Chair. He had only been in the business for five years, he had published little except the edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, co-edited with E.V. Gordon, and Kenneth Sisam [1887-1971] had also applied: Sisam was older than Tolkien, had been his tutor, and already had an Oxford job. It is a mystery why Tolkien won, by a single vote. »[/citation]
[citation=MCE, p. 285]« Lorsque je suis rentré de Leeds en 1925, NOUS ne signifiait plus les étudiants en anglais, mais ceux qui adhéraient à Lang ou à Litt : EUX signifiait tous ceux qui étaient dans l’autre clan, gens infiniment rusés qu’il fallait constamment surveiller, de peur qu’ILS ne l’emportent sur NOUS. Et c’est ce qu’ils ont fait, les gredins !
En effet, si vous avez des Partis avec des étiquettes, vous obtenez des Partisans. Les combats entre factions sont bien sûr amusants, surtout pour ceux qui aiment la bagarre, mais il n’est pas dit qu’ils fassent aucun bien (…). »[/citation]
[citation=Carpenter, Biography, p. 184-185]« It should be understood that an Oxford professor, unlike those in many other universities, is not by virtue of his office necessarily in a position of power in his faculty. He has no authority over the college tutors who in all probability make up the majority of the faculty staff, for they are appointed by their colleges and are not answerable to him. So if he wishes to initiate some major change of policy he must adopt persuasive rather than authoritarian tactics. And, on his return to Oxford in 1925, Tolkien did wish to make a major change: he wanted to reform certain aspects of the Final Honour School of English Language and Literature.
The years since the First World War had widened the old rift between Language and Literature, and each faction in the English School - and they really were factions, with personal as well as academic animosities - delighted to interfere with the syllabus of the other. The “Lang.” side made sure that the “Lit” students had to spend a good deal of their time studying the obscurer branches of English philology, while the “Lit.” camp insisted that the “Lang.” undergraduates must set aside many hours from their specialization (Anglo-Saxon and Middle English) to study the works of Milton and Shakespeare. Tolkien believed that this should be remedied. What was even more regrettable to him was that the linguistic courses laid considerable emphasis on the study of theoretical <185> philology without suggesting that undergraduates should read widely in early and medieval literature. His own love of philology had always been based firmly on knowledge of literature, and he determined that this state of affairs should be changed. »[/citation]
Entre 1922 et 1925
« The Leed’s Songs » : E.V. Gordon [1896-1938], arrivé à l’Université de Leeds en 1922, réunit des poèmes de sa propre composition ainsi que d’autres de la main de Tolkien – dont « Lit’ and Lang’ » (Scull & Hammond, Reader’s Guide, p. 967)
Année 1925
[citation=Shippey, p. 140-141]« That sense of defeat [dans la vie universitaire de Tolkien] may be demonstrated by looking at three docu¬ments from Tolkien’s own life. The first comes from Tolkien’s application for the Oxford Chair of Anglo-Saxon vacated by W.A. Craigie [1867-1957], dated 27th June 1925. Its literary genre is obvious: the application for a future job which is also an extended boast about how well you have done in the current one. Tolkien says that at Leeds University, where he had been Reader since 1920 and Professor since 1924 :
I began with five hesitant pioneers out of a School [ ... ] of about sixty members. The proportion today is 43 literary to 20 linguistic students. The linguists are in no way isolated or cut off from the general life and work of the department, and share in many of the literary courses and activities of the School, but since 1922 their purely linguistic work has been conducted in special classes, and examined in distinct papers of special standard and attitude [ ... ] Courses are given on Old English heroic verse, the history of English, various Old and Middle English texts, Old and Middle English philology, introductory Germanic philology, Gothic, Old Icelandic [ ... ] and Medieval Welsh. [ ... ] Philology, indeed, appears to have lost for these students its connotations of terror if not of mystery. An active discussion-class has been conducted [ ... ] which has borne fruit in friendly rivalry and open debate with the corresponding literary assembly [ ... ] [If elected] I should endeavour to advance, to the best of my ability, the growing neighbourliness of linguistic and literary studies, which can never be enemies except by misunderstanding or without loss to both; and <141> to continue in a wider and more fertile field the encouragement of philological enthusiasm among the young.
(Letters, 12-13)
The sub-text of this is again obvious. Note the remarks, “in no way isolated [ ... ] friendly rivalry [ ... ] growing neighbourliness,” and of course no more “connotations of terror.” Other evidence suggests that this was by no means completely true, and that the philologists and the critics at Leeds were as usual at daggers drawn – the Songs for the Philologists published in 1936 contains at least one poem by Tolkien cruelly mocking the literary students and the literary faculty. But Tolkien knew that the selection committee at Oxford would be looking for someone who was not going to cause trouble, who would co-operate with his modernist colleagues, and he made out that he was just the right person (as one does in such circumstances). He really could not have expected to be appointed to the Oxford Chair. He had only been in the business for five years, he had published little except the edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, co-edited with E.V. Gordon, and Kenneth Sisam [1887-1971] had also applied: Sisam was older than Tolkien, had been his tutor, and already had an Oxford job. It is a mystery why Tolkien won, by a single vote. »[/citation]
[citation=MCE, p. 285]« Lorsque je suis rentré de Leeds en 1925, NOUS ne signifiait plus les étudiants en anglais, mais ceux qui adhéraient à Lang ou à Litt : EUX signifiait tous ceux qui étaient dans l’autre clan, gens infiniment rusés qu’il fallait constamment surveiller, de peur qu’ILS ne l’emportent sur NOUS. Et c’est ce qu’ils ont fait, les gredins !
En effet, si vous avez des Partis avec des étiquettes, vous obtenez des Partisans. Les combats entre factions sont bien sûr amusants, surtout pour ceux qui aiment la bagarre, mais il n’est pas dit qu’ils fassent aucun bien (…). »[/citation]
[citation=Carpenter, Biography, p. 184-185]« It should be understood that an Oxford professor, unlike those in many other universities, is not by virtue of his office necessarily in a position of power in his faculty. He has no authority over the college tutors who in all probability make up the majority of the faculty staff, for they are appointed by their colleges and are not answerable to him. So if he wishes to initiate some major change of policy he must adopt persuasive rather than authoritarian tactics. And, on his return to Oxford in 1925, Tolkien did wish to make a major change: he wanted to reform certain aspects of the Final Honour School of English Language and Literature.
The years since the First World War had widened the old rift between Language and Literature, and each faction in the English School - and they really were factions, with personal as well as academic animosities - delighted to interfere with the syllabus of the other. The “Lang.” side made sure that the “Lit” students had to spend a good deal of their time studying the obscurer branches of English philology, while the “Lit.” camp insisted that the “Lang.” undergraduates must set aside many hours from their specialization (Anglo-Saxon and Middle English) to study the works of Milton and Shakespeare. Tolkien believed that this should be remedied. What was even more regrettable to him was that the linguistic courses laid considerable emphasis on the study of theoretical <185> philology without suggesting that undergraduates should read widely in early and medieval literature. His own love of philology had always been based firmly on knowledge of literature, and he determined that this state of affairs should be changed. »[/citation]