Friedrich Max Müller and George Eliot: Affinities, Einfühlung, and the Science of Religion. (1st September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barnette, Sarah
• Is Part Of: Publications of the English Goethe Society. Volume 85:Number 2/3(2016)
• Page Start: 191
• Page End: 203
• Publication Date: 2016-09-01
• Subjects: Friedrich Max Müller -- George Eliot -- Einfühlung -- sympathy -- Middlemarch -- Daniel Deronda -- science of language -- science of religion -- Johann Gottfried Herder; German literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; German literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism and interpretation -- Periodicals; 830.9006
• DOI: 10.1080/09593683.2016.1224490
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-3683

Abstract

Abstract : By setting the texts of George Eliot and Max Müller side by side, this paper explores how Eliot replicates and comments upon Müller's philological, comparative, and historical-critical methodologies. In particular, attention is drawn to their parallel uses of Herderean Einfühlung as a key and strategic component of German historicism, and to their corresponding interests in establishing and pursuing a comparative study of world religions. Through her fiction, Eliot is a clear participant in the emerging discourse on the science of religion in Britain. Her interaction with Müller's works is a testament to the prevalence of his scholarship and presents an important set of examples of how his theories are developed and refracted as they are transmitted from scholarly translations, articles, essays, and lectures to the Victorian novel.