The Scholar Adventurers

While I admire people who can pour through the dullest list of names looking for historical evidence, I just didn't find Altick's attempts to make the process seem exciting very interesting. The information that was found is often quite interesting, but since much of this information, while new at the time of writing, is common knowledge now, it just wasn't enough to keep me reading.

I enjoyed reading Altick's other book, The Art of Literary Research so much that I ordered a copy of his earlier book, The Scholar Adventurerers (first published in 1950). I wasn't disappointed. The contents of this book are exactly what the title says: the scholars who found adventure in their literary research. The author begins with a chapter on Boswell's ebony cabinet, where more of Boswell's papers were found. In the next chapter, he informs us of the discovery of the Wise forgeries by John Carter and Graham Powell. This topic, as well as the first topic were expanded into book form by other authors. The next chapter reveals the investigation into identifying the "Thomas Mallory" who wrote Morte Darthur, a good read, but not as show more interesting to me as the first two topics. Altick goes on for eleven more chapters, with such topics as "The Scholar and the Scientist," "Hunting for Manuscripts," and "On the Trail of Byron." In the Preface to the edition I acquired, it was noted that this book was first printed in 1950. It was considered a classic by many scholars and reprinted thirty-seven years later. All told, I liked this book better than Altick's other book, The Art of Literary Research. show less

I enjoyed reading Altick's other book, The Art of Literary Research so much that I ordered a copy of his earlier book, The Scholar Adventurerers (first published in 1950). I wasn't disappointed. The contents of this book are exactly what the title says: the scholars who found adventure in their literary research. The author begins with a chapter on Boswell's ebony cabinet, where more of Boswell's papers were found. In the next chapter, he informs us of the discovery of the Wise forgeries by John Carter and Graham Powell. This topic, as well as the first topic were expanded into book form by other authors. The next chapter reveals the investigation into identifying the "Thomas Mallory" who wrote Morte Darthur, a good read, but not as show more interesting to me as the first two topics. Altick goes on for eleven more chapters, with such topics as "The Scholar and the Scientist," "Hunting for Maniscripts," and "On the Trail of Byron." In the Preface to the edition I acquired, it was noted that this book was first printed in 1950. It was considered a classic by many scholars and reprinted thirty-seven years later. All told, I liked this book better than Altick's other book, The Art of Literary Research. show less

Excellent read. Deserves its place on the 100 best nonfiction books, in English,of the 20th Century. Must be interested in literary research and maybe it flags a bit at the very end, but wonderful read.

12/5/22