Helen Adolf (December 31, 1895 – December 13, 1998) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

–American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and literature scholar.

Early life and education

Helen (or Helene) Adolf was born in 1895 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. Her family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Her mother, Hedwig () Adolf, was an artist, while her father, Jakob Adolf, was a lawyer. Adolf had one older sister, Anna Adolf Spiegel. She was a first cousin of writer

Leonie Adele Spitzer Leonie Adele Spitzer (17 May 1891 – 5 June 1940) was an Austrian writer, poet, and educator. Biography Leonie Adele Spitzer was born into a distinguished Jewish assimilation, assimilated Jews, Jewish family in Vienna. Her father was ''Obermediz ...

. She received her

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

and eventually moved to the United States to work in medical education. Adolf attended the University of Vienna and graduated in 1923 with her PhD in literature. Unable to find work in Vienna, she moved to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Germany to seek work.

Career in Europe

Upon moving to Leipzig, she worked for

Reclam Reclam Verlag is a German publishing house, established in Leipzig in 1828 by Anton Philipp Reclam (1807–1896).German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

through the beginning of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in Germany. Outside of working at Reclam, Adolf also wrote poetry and studied subjects like religion and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. She also translated literature, including ''Sainte Thérèse d'Avila'' by

Jeanne Galzy Jeanne Galzy (1883–1977), born Louise Jeanne Baraduc, was a French novelist and biographer from Montpellier. She was a long-time member of the jury for the Prix Femina. Largely forgotten today, she was known as a regional author, but also wro ...

. She served as secretary at the International Society for the Psychology of Religion from 1923 until 1938.

Relocation and work in the United States

Due to the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'', Adolf decided to leave Europe. She went to the United States in April 1939. She went to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

where her sister lived. She received assistance from the

American Friends Service Committee The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (''Quaker'') founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by Am ...

. She attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

to study Spanish. She worked in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

at secondary schools teaching languages. She moved back to Philadelphia in 1943. She started working at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

that year. In 1946, she started working at the University Park campus. In 1953, she became

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

there. She was the schools' first Liberal Arts Research Scholar, which she was named in 1958. She wrote in German, writing poetry. She studied

The Holy Grail The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...

extensively and published the book ''Visio Pacis: Holy City and Grail'' in 1961. The book was awarded the Louis H. Memorial Award. Her work was published in Austria in 1964. A ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' was published about her in 1968. She was awarded the Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class, in 1987. She retired in 1979.

Death

Helen Adolf died on December 13, 1998, aged 102, in

State College, Pennsylvania State College is a home rule municipality in Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a college town, dominated economically, culturally and demographically by the presence of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania Sta ...

.Profile
encyclopedia.com. Accessed October 24, 2022.

Selected works by Helen Adolf

F. Hallali, Germ. Halali = "Praise (My Soul)"?"
''Studies in Philology.'' Vol. 46, No. 4 (Oct. 1949), pp. 514–520.
New Light on Oriental Sources for Wolfram's Parzival and Other Grail Romances
" ''PMLA.'' Vol. 62, No. 2 (Jun. 1947), pp. 306–324.
Schlußwort.
''The German Quarterly'', Vol. 34, No. 3 (May 1961), p. 237.
Studies in the Perlesvaus; The Historical Background
" ''Studies in Philology.'' Vol. 42, No. 4 (Oct. 1945), pp. 723–740.
The Essence and Origin of Tragedy
" ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.'' Vol. 10, No. 2 (Dec. 1951), pp. 112–125.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adolf, Helen 1895 births 1998 deaths Austrian literary historians Writers from Vienna University of Vienna alumni Women linguists Pennsylvania State University faculty 19th-century Austrian Jews Austrian emigrants to the United States Linguists from the United States Women literary historians 20th-century linguists American centenarians Women centenarians Naturalized citizens of the United States