The text on this page is from David Lavery, "An Owen Barfield Readers Guide." Seven 15 (1998): 97-112. |
History in English Words. London: Methuen and Co., 1926; second ed., London: Faber and Faber 1953; rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1967. Language has preserved for us the inner, living history of man's soul. It reveals the evolution of consciousness. (History in English Words 14) Looking back at this rich, fascinating guide to the history of the western world as revealed by etymological reflections on common English words, it seems astonishing, given its erudition and its wisdom, that it could have been written by a man barely twenty eight years of age. Begun before either his first exposure to Rudolf Steiner or completion of the B. Litt thesis at Oxford that would turn into Poetic Diction, History in English Words nevertheless exhibits (in Barfield’s own words) "an implicit theory of the history of consciousness," even though, as he admits, "I certainly wasn't writing with that intention in mind" (OBMM).
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