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Submitted by eyeteeth (not verified) on 07 Oct 2019 - 22:49 Permalink

This reminds me of the "Key to All Mythologies" endlessly labored over by the straitlaced and passionless Mr. Casaubon in George Eliot's Middlemarch. He buries himself alive in this wrongheaded effort while his beautiful young wife pines for the ennobling love she thought she would find in marriage. You won't find it in marriage to this awful nerd, Dorothea! Or any nerd who claims he, and only he, has all the answers.

Submitted by Alfred Armstrong on 12 Aug 2017 - 14:27 Permalink

Neither, obviously. I was just showing how Gaskell's approach can be applied to practically any text to elicit its supposed true meaning. What he's saying is ridiculous and arguably dangerous, essentially claiming there is little value to the surface meaning of words. One does not have to literally love one's neighbour, for example, even though that is the plain message of the Biblical text, because that's not the real meaning, according to Gaskell. One can justify anything that way.

Submitted by KarmaKarson (not verified) on 12 Aug 2017 - 04:40 Permalink

Is a nursery rhyme considered scripture or a sacred myth? .....

Submitted by Alfred Armstrong on 12 Aug 2017 - 14:27 Permalink

Neither, obviously. I was just showing how Gaskell's approach can be applied to practically any text to elicit its supposed true meaning. What he's saying is ridiculous and arguably dangerous, essentially claiming there is little value to the surface meaning of words. One does not have to literally love one's neighbour, for example, even though that is the plain message of the Biblical text, because that's not the real meaning, according to Gaskell. One can justify anything that way.

Submitted by WhyteByrd (not verified) on 06 Dec 2015 - 00:12 Permalink

I found this to be a useful and succinct analysis and evaluation of Gaskell's Sacred Dictionary - and cleverly concluded - objectively.

Submitted by FrancoisTremblay (not verified) on 29 Dec 2014 - 10:42 Permalink

He's a nut, he's a cocoa-nut! That Gaskell needs therapy! Lie down on the couch.