H. M. Posnett

Hutcheson Macaulay Posnett (c. 1855 – 1927[1]) was an Irish-New Zealand lawyer and scholar who was a pioneer in the field of comparative literature.[2]

Posnett was born in Dublin, Ireland.[3] He graduated from Trinity College in that city.[4]

From 1885 until 1890 Posnett held the Chair of Classics and English Literature at the University of Auckland although he also examined students in economics.[4][5] His works include The Historical Method in Ethics, Jurisprudence, and Political Economy (1882) and The Ricardian Theory of Rent (1884), but he is most notable for the 1886 Comparative Literature, "considered today by many scholars as the foundational work for the studies gathered under the same name during the following century".[6]

Informed by Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism and published as part of the "International Scientific Series" (published by Kegan Paul, London and D. Appleton, New York), it explained the history of literature as occurring contemporaneously with social evolution, from simple and communal to individual and complex. Posnett's work was also much influenced by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Apart from Matthew Arnold's use of the phrase "comparative literature" in a letter, Posnett was the first scholar to use it in the English-speaking world.[4]

At the time of its publication, the Saturday Review stated "We find very little interest in Mr. Posnett's 'Comparative Literature.' The arrangement seems by no means well ordered. Heaps of information (not always correct) are 'shot' (like rubbish) all over the place. … How remote all this is from the study of literature!"[7]

In 1890 Posnett resigned and returned to Dublin where he practised as a lawyer.[4]

Posnett died on 5 September 1927 in Kingstown, Ireland, with English probate being executed on 5 December of that same year.[8][9]

References
  1. "The June Magazines". Evening Post. 20 July 1901. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
  2. CLAI - Comparative Literature Association of Ireland
  3. The Comparative Method and Literature (1886): Hutcheson Macaulay Posnett, utoronto.ca. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  4. Keith Sinclair, A History of the University of Auckland, Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1983, pp. 34-36. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  5. Conrad, Blyth (2006). "History of the Economics Department of the University of Auckland with some notes on the early academic teaching of economics in New Zealand" (PDF). University of Auckland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help) p. 9.
  6. Alexandru, Boldor (2003). "Perspectives on Comparative Literature". MA Thesis. Babeş-Bolyai University: 36. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Kirk, John Foster (1902). A Supplement to Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors. 2. London: J. B. Lippincott Company. p. 1246.
  8. Principal Probate Registry (1927). Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. p. 688.
  9. "Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958 (FamilySearch)". Hutcheson M Posnett, 1855; citing vol. 2, p. 458, General Registry, Custom House, Dublin, Ireland; FHL microfilm 101737. FamilySearch. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  • Comparative Literature, London, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1886 (International Scientific Series, Vol. L) (full text)
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