Humanism and Style

Miller (St. Louis Univ.) is eminently qualified to discuss the Latin style of Erasmus and More, having been executive editor of the 'The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More,' collaborator on the Toronto 'Collected Works of Erasmus,' and editor of the Encomium Moriae of Amsterdam's Opera Omnia of Erasmus. These congenial essays concentrate on the Latin styles of the two writers. For Erasmus's Praise of Folly, he examines the mixture of the serious and the comic styles; for More's Utopia, he provides a close analysis of the diction of Hythloday, the chief character of the work. In his comparison of the poetry of the writers, Miller reaches the sagacious conclusion that More's epigrams exhibit his wit, humor, and dramatic skill whereas Erasmus excels more in religious poetry. The most absorbing essay, for this reviewer, was Miller's fantastic account of More's last work, De tristitia Christi, a meditation on martyrdom in the light of Christ's agony in the garden of Gethsemane, written in the Tower of London. Written in a personal, engaging style, these essays offer penetrating insights into the writing of these two great humanists, in whom one soul did indeed seem to inhabit two bodies. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. * CHOICE *
Clarence H. Miller’s, Humanism and Style: Essays on Erasmus and More is a fine collection of essays by a notable single author. The essays are equally detailed and studious; they collectively represent over fifty years of scholarship, and published together they offer an inspiring, if rather forbidding, example for younger academics. * American Behavioral Scientist *