CALL FOR PAPERS

FRIEDRICH MAX MUELLER AND THE ROLE OF PHILOLOGY IN VICTORIAN THOUGHT

An International Conference at the German Historical Institute, London,
16-18 April 2015

Collaborating institutions:

Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, Queen Mary University of London
English Goethe Society
German Historical Institute, London


DESCRIPTION:

Friedrich Max Mueller (1823-1900) was one of the most well known
academics in Victorian Britain. His popular writings enjoyed a wide
readership and acclaim. His public lectures were sell-out events. He
was a prominent figure in the popularisation of evolutionary thinking
before Darwin. His theories regarding the origins and development of
language served to create a public fascination with the past, with
legend and with myth. His public role in the contexts of imperialism
and British understanding of the cultures of the Indian subcontinent
brought him notoriety. Good-looking, witty and gifted, Max Mueller was,
for many outside academe, the embodiment of the German Professor and a
forerunner of today’s media-savvy academic.

Max Mueller’s scholarship is often seen as an important contribution to
Victorian knowledge. When studied today, Max Mueller’s works offer
remarkable insights into the preoccupations and parameters of Victorian
intellectual life. His translation of ancient Sanskrit scripts was
inherently ground-breaking and monumental. His work was absorbed not
just by academics but also by an influential cross-section of the
Victorian elite. His findings helped raise the profile of so-called
‘Oriental’ cultures in Britain, as well as inspiring interest in
philology, a discipline that enjoyed a peculiar popularity and strategic
position in Victorian Britain. Max Mueller’s contribution to the
development of philology intellectually and through personal
intervention was significant. Yet his influence can only be understood
through an interdisciplinary lens. Philology intersected with theology
and with the academic study of religion, key areas of sensitive
importance in Victorian Britain. It also overlapped with literary
scholarship, philosophy, anthropology, and evolutionary thinking in the
natural sciences. The first President of the English Goethe Society, Max
Mueller actively fostered interdisciplinary discourse. Seen broadly, his
scholarship made an important contribution to the dissemination of
German-style historicism in Victorian intellectual life.

Historically, Max Mueller’s personal life is highly significant. Through
his father, the Romantic poet Wilhelm Mueller, and through his studies
Max Mueller was on personal terms with the leading German intellectuals
of the time. Identified by the Prussian Ambassador, Bunsen, as an
important catalyst of intellectual exchange, Max Mueller came to occupy
a position of significance in Anglo-German cultural relations and
Victorian life in general, even if his position as a German-born
Professor at Oxford carried with it challenges of integration and
cultural acceptance. He corresponded widely with prominent and important
figures, including Charles Darwin and William Gladstone, and became a
favourite guest of Queen Victoria. He was related by marriage to both
J.A. Froude and Charles Kingsley. His scholarship and public engagement
in imperial matters extended his impact abroad. His high profile
campaigning for better understanding of Indian culture in Europe has
left its mark: Goethe Institutes in India today are known as “Max
Mueller Bhavan.”

Despite being credited with significance in many fields of Victorian
intellectual and public life, Max Mueller’s life and work have not been
subjected to sufficient scholarly attention. The relatively recent
biography by Lourens P. van den Bosch (Friedrich Max Mueller: A Life
Devoted to the Humanities, 2002) has provided an excellent overview that
should now enable more detailed evaluations of Max Mueller’s
contributions to many facets of intellectual life. By necessity, such
evaluations must be biographical, historical and interdisciplinary. The
proposed conference will therefore bring together academics from a range
of disciplines. It seeks to recapture, and evaluate comprehensively and
rigorously, Friedrich Max Mueller’s significance personally,
intellectually, and publicly.

CONFERENCE PANELS:

Contributions are sought relating to the following provisional panel themes:

*Introduction*
Biography; political and intellectual context; research questions;

*Philology*
Max Mueller’s position within philology; Max Mueller and philology as a
discipline in Britain in the nineteenth century;

*Religion*
Max Mueller’s religious position; his influence upon Victorian religious
discourse and his founding of religious studies as an academic
discipline in the United Kingdom;

*Evolution*
Max Mueller and nineteenth-century thinking on evolution; Max Mueller
and Darwin;

*Anthropology*
Max Mueller’s influence upon nineteenth-century anthropology;

*Myths*
Max Mueller’s influence on the theory of myth;

*Translation and Sanskrit Studies*
Max Mueller and the craft of the translator; Max Müller’s impact on
Sanskrit research in Britain and internationally;

*Imperialism*
Max Mueller’s engagement with British imperialism and imperial policy;
Max Mueller and the history of British imperialism in India; Max Mueller
in relation to current debates about imperialism, intercultural
relations and interreligious dialogue.

DISSEMINATION:
The conference proceedings will be considered for publication in a
special issue of the journal of the English Goethe Society (Publications
of the English Goethe Society).

CONVENORS:
John R. Davis (Kingston University), Email: [log in to unmask]
Angus Nicholls (Queen Mary University of London), Email:
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Abstracts of 500 words should be sent to either of the conference
convenors by 30 April 2014.