The Key to All Mythologies
E1013134
The Key to All Mythologies is the unfinished, ultimately futile scholarly opus on comparative religion and ancient sources undertaken by the pedantic clergyman Edward Casaubon in George Eliot’s novel "Middlemarch."
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| A Key to All Mythologies | 1 |
Statements (40)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
fictional scholarly work
ⓘ
plot device ⓘ unwritten book ⓘ |
| appearsIn | Middlemarch NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedCharacter |
Dorothea Brooke
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Edward Casaubon NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| authorInFiction | Edward Casaubon NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| createdBy | George Eliot NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| criticalReceptionInFiction | quietly dismissed by more modern scholars ⓘ |
| depictedIn | George Eliot's novel Middlemarch NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| influencedByInFiction |
antiquarian research
ⓘ
biblical criticism ⓘ classical scholarship ⓘ |
| intendedScope | universal explanation of mythologies ⓘ |
| languageOfCompositionInFiction | English ⓘ |
| literaryFunction |
critique of pedantic scholarship
ⓘ
device to characterize Edward Casaubon ⓘ symbol of futile intellectual ambition ⓘ |
| mediumInFiction | manuscript ⓘ |
| metaphoricalUse | phrase used in criticism to denote overambitious, obsolete projects ⓘ |
| narrativeRole |
example of outdated scholarship
ⓘ
source of tension in Dorothea and Casaubon's marriage ⓘ |
| publicationStatusInFiction | never published ⓘ |
| reasonForFailureInFiction |
Casaubon's declining health
ⓘ
Casaubon's lack of engagement with contemporary German scholarship ⓘ overly ambitious scope ⓘ |
| relatedWork | Edward Casaubon's proposed codicil about Dorothea's remarriage ⓘ |
| settingContext | provincial English intellectual life ⓘ |
| statusInNarrative |
ultimately futile
ⓘ
unfinished ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
ancient sources
ⓘ
comparative religion ⓘ |
| symbolizes |
dead scholasticism
ⓘ
gap between aspiration and achievement ⓘ misdirected vocation ⓘ |
| thematicAssociation |
failure of grand systems
ⓘ
intellectual isolation ⓘ limits of individual scholarship ⓘ |
| timeOfCreationInFiction | early 19th century ⓘ |
| titleOf | Edward Casaubon's scholarly project ⓘ |
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
A Key to All Mythologies