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On the Shoulders of Giants: A Shandean Postscript.
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1966
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Literary TheoryLiterary HistoryLiterary StudyHistorical MethodologyLiterary CriticismFrench LiteratureHobby HorsePolemical EssayRobert MertonPoeticsLanguage StudiesPractical PhilosophyArtsHistorical ScholarshipClassicsIntellectual HistoryTimes Literary SupplementShandean Postscript
Merton traces the origin of Newton’s aphorism about standing on the shoulders of giants. Merton uses Sterne’s Tristram Shandy style to craft a whimsical scholarly exploration of creativity, tradition, plagiarism, knowledge transmission, and progress. Merton transposes obscure scholarly debates into comedy, shifting the focus to a secondary hobby horse within his dense scholarly milieu. The book parodies scholarly pretension while showcasing deep learning, producing a clever, suggestive wit that delights readers.
With playfulness and a large dose of wit, Robert Merton traces the origin of Newton's aphorism, If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. Using as a model the discursive and digressive style of Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Merton presents a whimsical yet scholarly work which deals with the questions of creativity, tradition, plagiarism, the transmission of knowledge, and the concept of progress. This book is the delightful apotheosis of donmanship: Merton parodies scholarliness while being faultlessly scholarly; he scourges pedantry while brandishing his own abstruse learning on every page. The most recondite and obscure scholarly squabbles are transmuted into the material of comedy as the ostensible subject is shouldered to one side by yet another hobby horse from Merton's densely populated stable. He has created a jeu d'esprit which is profoundly suggestive both in detail and as a whole.--Sean French, Times Literary Supplement