Leo Spitzer (; 7 February 1887 – 16 September 1960) was an Austrian
Romanist and
Hispanist,
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
, and an influential and prolific literary critic. He was known for his emphasis on
stylistics
Stylistics, a branch of applied linguistics, is the study and interpretation of texts of all types and/or spoken language in regard to their linguistic and tonal style, where style is the particular variety of language used by different individu ...
. Along with
Erich Auerbach
Erich Auerbach (November 9, 1892 – October 13, 1957) was a German philologist and comparative scholar and critic of literature. His best-known work is '' Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature'', a history of represe ...
, Spitzer is widely recognized as one of the foundational figures of
comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...
.
Biography
Spitzer was a doctoral student of
Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke
Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke (; 30 January 1861 – 4 October 1936) was a Swiss philologist of the Neogrammarian school of linguistics.
Biography
Meyer-Lübke, a nephew of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, was born in Dübendorf, Switzerland. He studied Ind ...
, receiving his doctorate in 1910. He was a professor at the
University of Marburg
The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...
in 1925, at the
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...
in 1930. In 1933 he was dismissed because of his
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 ...
background and left
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, moving to
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
; his position was taken up by literary scholar and philologist
Ernst Robert Curtius
Ernst Robert Curtius (; 14 April 1886 – 19 April 1956) was a German literary scholar, philologist, and Romance language literary critic, best known for his 1948 study ''Europäische Literatur und Lateinisches Mittelalter'', translated in Eng ...
.
In Istanbul, Spitzer taught at the
Istanbul University
, image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg
, image_size = 200px
, latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis
, motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü
, mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future
, established = 1453 1846 1933
...
for three years "as the first professor of Latin languages" and "as director of the School of Foreign Languages."
From there he went to
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
in 1936 (succeeding the chair in
Romance philology left vacant with the death of
David S. Blondheim in 1934), where he remained for the rest of his life.
Legacy
According to
René Wellek
René Wellek (August 22, 1903 – November 10, 1995) was a Czech-American comparative literary critic. Like Erich Auerbach, Wellek was an eminent product of the Central European philological tradition and was known as a vastly erudite a ...
and
Austin Warren:
Selected works
* ''Die Wortbildung als stilistisches Mittel exemplifiziert an Rabelais''. Max Niemeyer, Halle 1910.
*
Aufsätze zur romanischen Syntax und Stilistik'. Max Niemeyer, Halle 1918.
*
Fremdwörterhatz und Fremdvölkerhaß. Eine Streitschrift gegen die Sprachreinigung'. Manzsche Hof-, Verlags- und Universitäts-Buchhandlung, Wien 1918.
* ''Studien zu Henri Barbusse''. F. Cohen, Bonn 1920.
*
Lexikalisches aus dem Katalanischen und den übrigen iberomanischen Sprachen'. Leo S. Olschki, Genf 1921.
*
Über die Ausbildung von Gegensinn in der Wortbildung'. In:
Ernst Gamillscheg and Leo Spitzer: ''Beiträge zur romanischen Wortbildungslehre''. Leo S. Olschki, Genf 1921.
*
Italienische Kriegsgefangenenbriefe. Materialien zu einer Charakteristik der volkstümlichen italienischen Korrespondenz'. Peter Hanstein (edit.), Bonn 1921.
* ''Italienische Umgangssprache'' Kurt Schroeder, Bonn 1922.
* ''Stilstudien''. Hueber, München 1928.
* ''Romanische Stil-und Literaturstudien''. Elwer'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Marburg 1931.
* ''Der Stil Diderots'' (1948). In Jochen Schlobach (edit.): ''Denis Diderot.'' Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1992, .
* ''Racine et Goethe''. In: ''Revue d’histoire de la philosophie et d’histoire générale de la civilisation'' 1.1933: S.58-75.
* ''La enumeración caótica de la poesía moderna''. Instituto de Filología, Buenos Aires 1945.
* ''Linguistics and Literary History''. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1948.
* ''Essays on English and American Literature''. Hrsg. von
Anna Granville Hatcher
Anna Granville Hatcher (1905–1978) was an American linguist. She started her career as a Romance linguist, and later conducted research in medieval literature as well as branching out from Late Latin and Old French to studies on Provençal, Spa ...
. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1962.
*
Classical and Christian Ideas of World Harmony: Prolegomena to an Interpretation of the Word "Stimmung"'. Anna Granville Hatcher; mit einem Vorwort von
René Wellek
René Wellek (August 22, 1903 – November 10, 1995) was a Czech-American comparative literary critic. Like Erich Auerbach, Wellek was an eminent product of the Central European philological tradition and was known as a vastly erudite a ...
. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1963.
* ''Interpretationen zur Geschichte der französischen Lyrik''. Hrsg. von Helga Jauß-Meyer u. Peter Schunk. Selbstverlag des Romanischen Seminars der Universität Heidelberg 1961. (Aus Tonbandaufnahmen erstelltes Skriptum einer Gastvorlesung im Sommersemester 1958 an der Universität Heidelberg)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitzer, Leo
1887 births
1960 deaths
Writers from Vienna
Linguists from Austria
Austrian Hispanists
Jewish philosophers
Jewish writers
Denis Diderot
Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies
20th-century linguists
Istanbul University faculty
Johns Hopkins University people
Philologists