Eve Adler (29 April 1945 – 4 September 2004) was an American classicist who taught at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

for 25 years until her death in 2004. Adler was a graduate of

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

with a B.A. in Hebrew, of Brandeis University with a M.A. in Mediterranean Studies and of Cornell University, where she got her doctorate in Classics. She was widely regarded as one of the most gifted teachers in Middlebury's history.

Life and career

Adler primarily specialized in ancient epic poetry, particularly Homer and Vergil, as well as classical understanding of

liberal education A liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation of a free (Latin: ''liber'') human being. It is based on the medieval concept of the liberal arts or, more commonly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment ...

. Prior to her death, she published her monumental and authoritative work called "Vergil's Empire: Political Thought in the Aeneid" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). In this book, Adler rejects centuries of scholarship on Vergil, which believes that he was merely a clever imitator of Homer, and argues that he had a unique view of the human condition and ambitions as great, if not greater, than his Greek predecessor. As the Weekly Standard wrote in its review of the book, Adler believes "something of a secret teaching may be glimpsed behind the imperial screen ... ecret teaching ofviews on universal empire

hat have A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

urgency not only for literary studies but for our reflections on empire in the current global situation." In addition to her book on Vergil, Adler had written an earlier work on Catullan self-Revelation and numerous scholarly articles on other classical authors. Adler was also an important scholar of political philosophy in general, and extensively studied the political thought and approach to

Scholarly method The scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars and academics to make their claims about the subject as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public. It is the met ...

advocated by

Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States. ...

, and was widely regarded as one of the leading

Straussians Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American Political philosophy, political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany ...

even though she had never studied with him. She was the translator from German of Strauss's "Philosophy and Law: Contributions to the Understanding of Maimonides and His Predecessors" (Albany: SUNY Press, 1995). Her introduction to that work is one of the most authoritative interpretation of Strauss's work on Maimonides. In the 1990s, Adler developed an interest in Russian thought and literature. She not only taught herself

Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...

, but also co-authored, with Vladimir Shlyakhov, "A Dictionary of Russian Slang and Colloquial Expressions" (Barrons, 1995). She also translated Mikhail Epstein's "Cries in the New Wilderness" from Russian. She spent the last years of her life preparing a Russian translation of Strauss' ''Natural Right and History''. This translation was published after her death in Russia (Moscow: Vodoley Publishers, 2007, se
lstrauss.ru
. Adler taught Greek, Latin, and Hebrew at

, and also knew German, Russian, Arabic, and Italian.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Eve Middlebury College faculty Brandeis University alumni Cornell University alumni 1945 births 2004 deaths Place of birth missing