Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon ( 8 May 1737 - 16 January 1794 ) is a historian UK. His best known work, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , remains a reference for historians Roman and Byzantinists.
Summary |
Gibbon was born on 8 May 1737 in Putney, a village near the River Thames near London. His grandfather made the family fortune in the South Sea Company and lost after the bursting of the bubble in which it was subject. Gibbon was an only child and he referred to himself as "a weakling child" in his memoirs. His mother died when he was aged 10, after which he went to Kingston Grammar School and stayed at the guest's "Aunt Kitty". At age 14 he was sent by his father at Magdalen College (Oxford) where he enrolled as a gentleman commoner "(commoner of high social class).
The atmosphere of the school did not fit the character of Gibbon. Remarkable event at the time, he converted to Catholicism Roman June 8, 1753. The religious controversy was then raging on the campus of Oxford and later his taste for ironic innuendo him say he was a "religious fanatic of the chicane."
Shortly after his conversion, his father removed him from Oxford and sent him to Mr. Pavilliard, pastor Calvinist and tutor in Lausanne , where he remained five years. This time spent in Lausanne will leave a deep mark on the character and life of Gibbon. It quickly converts to Protestantism , but, more importantly, he gained a taste for study and the scholarship. In addition, he met the love of his life in the person of the daughter of a pastor, Suzanne Curchod , which later became the wife of Necker and mother of Madame de Stael. His father opposed the marriage and the young Gibbon intima immediately return to Britain. Gibbon would have written, "I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son. "
Shortly after his return to Britain, Gibbon published his first book in 1758 , Essays on the study of literature. He spent the years 1759 to 1763 in the militia of Hampshire. Then he sailed for a tour of Europe that included a visit to Rome. This is where Gibbon first conceived the idea of writing about the history of the Roman Empire.
"It was Oct. 15, in the mysterious darkness of the evening as I sat to meditate on the Capitol , while the faithful barefoot singing their litanies in the temple of Jupiter , that came to me the first design of my story. "(Memoirs of My Life)
In 1772 , his father died, and although the cases were not successful, it was nevertheless the young Gibbon enough to live comfortably in London. He began to write his story in 1773 and the first volume of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire appeared in 1776.
Gibbon suffered from a disease that was identified as a hydrocele. This disease was that his testicles were filled with fluid in proportions that caused him discomfort and pain in the last years of his life.
This chronic inflammation caused him great physical discomfort at a time when the fashion was for high-clothes tight. He refers to it indirectly in his memoirs with the comment: "I can not remember that fourteen days really happy in my life Criticism
Gibbon's literary talent, his sustained style, his epigrams and his pungent irony brilliant would not let her work the universal recognition it has today without the will ecumenical, the extraordinary accuracy and precision of Judgement rarely matched in historical prose. Churchill noted: "I opened my History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Gibbon and I was dominated by both history and style. I devoured Gibbon. I triumphantly walked from end to end. "He later imitated the style of Gibbon in his writings, without reaching the level of its inspiration. Influence on other writers The subject of the writings of Gibbon and his ideas and his style influenced many other writers. Apart from Churchill, Gibbon was a model for Isaac Asimov in writing of its cycle Foundation. Bibliography
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