Eliza Marian Butler (29 December 1885 – 13 November 1959), who published as E. M. Butler and Elizabeth M. Butler, was an English scholar of German,

Schröder Professor of German The Schröder Professorship of German is the senior professorship in the study of the German language at the University of Cambridge, and was founded in 1909 by a donation of £20,000 from Sir John Henry Freiherr von Schröder, Bt. of ''J. H. Schrö ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

from 1945. Her most influential book was ''The Tyranny of Greece over Germany'' (1935), in which she wrote that Germany has had "too much exposure to Ancient Greek literature and art. The result was that the German mind had succumbed to 'the tyranny of an ideal'. The German worship of Ancient Greece had emboldened the Nazis to remake Europe in their image." It was controversial in Britain and its translation was banned in Germany.

Life

Eliza Butler, known as "Elsie", was born in

Bardsea Bardsea is a village in the ''Low Furness'' area of Cumbria, England. It is two miles to the south-east of Ulverston on the northern coast of Morecambe Bay. It is in the historic county of Lancashire. History Bardsea, or ''Berretseige'', is m ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

in a family of Irish ancestry. She was educated by a Norwegian governess (from whom she learned German) and subsequently in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

from age 11, Paris from age 15, the school of domestic science at Reifenstein Abbey from age 18, and

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

from 21. As a teenager, she watched Kaiser Wilhelm II inspect his troops. In the

First World War 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 ...

she worked as an interpreter and nurse in Scottish units on the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Macedonian front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...

s (she had learned Russian from Jane Harrison)Sheila Watts
"Eliza Marian (Elsie) Butler (1885 – 1959)"
''College History: Biographies'', Newnham College, University of Cambridge, 2006. Retrieved 2012-11-03. and treated the victims of the German assault.Thomas Meaney
"Half-Finished People"
''London Review of Books'', 11 October 2012, p. 14. Retrieved 2012-10-04. From 1926 to her death Butler lived and travelled with her companion

Isaline Blew Horner Isaline Blew Horner OBE (30 March 1896 – 25 April 1981), usually cited as I. B. Horner, was an English Indologist, a leading scholar of Pali literature and late president of the Pali Text Society (1959–1981). Life On 30 March 1896 Horner was ...

. After working in hospitals, she taught at Cambridge and in 1936 became a professor at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. Her works include a trilogy on

ritual magic Ceremonial magic (ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an e ...

and the

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

, especially in the

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

legend (1948–1952). Butler also wrote novels. Her autobiography, ''Paper Boats'', was published by

William Collins, Sons William Collins, Sons (often referred to as Collins) was a Scottish printing and publishing company founded by a Presbyterian schoolmaster, William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819, in partnership with Charles Chalmers, the younger brother of Thomas ...

in 1959, the year of her death. She died in London on 13 November 1959. She may have inspired the scholar

Suzanne L. Marchand Suzanne L. Marchand (born 1961) is an American intellectual and cultural historian of modern Europe. She is the Boyd Professor of European Intellectual History at Louisiana State University. Life After earning a B.A. at University of California, ...

to research German

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

, as Marchand emphasized the political overtones of ''Orientalistik'', in reaction to Edward Said's assumption that Germany has had a mostly "classical" interest in the Orient (Said overlooked Germany in his ''

'').Suzanne L. Marchand, ''Down from Olympus: Archaeology and Philhellenism in Germany, 1750-1970'', Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003, pp. 153-4 (including the Said quotation); Suzanne L. Marchand, "German Orientalism and the Decline of the West", ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', Volume 145, Issue 4, 12/2001, p. 465.

Selected works

* ''The Saint-Simonian Religion'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1926) * ''The Tempestuous Prince'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1929) * ''Sheridan: A Ghost Story'' (London: Constable, 1931) * ''The Tyranny of Greece Over Germany: A Study of the Influence Exercised by Greek Art and Poetry Over the Great German Writers of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'' (Cambridge University Press, 1935; repr. Boston: Beacon, 1958, and Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2012, ). * ''Rainer Maria Rilke'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1941; repr. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1946) * ''The Myth of the Magus'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1947) * ''Ritual Magic'' (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1949; reimpression 1998) * ''Daylight in a Dream'' (London: The Hogarth Press, 1951) * ''Silver Wings'' (London: The Hogarth Press, 1952) * ''The Fortunes of Faust'' The Pennsylvania State University Press (reimpression 1952) * ''Paper Boats'' (London: Collins, 1959), a volume of reminiscences

References

External links

Eliza Marian Butler
at The Peerage {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Eliza Marian 1885 births 1959 deaths Germanists Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester Academics of the University of Cambridge People from Lancashire (before 1974)

Life

Selected works

See also

References

External links