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« Comme quoi Max Müller n’a jamais existé »

Henri Gaidoz
1884-1885
Full reference

Gaidoz, Henri, 1884-1885. « Comme quoi Max Müller n’a jamais existé », Mélusine, Tome 2, pp. 73-100.

Adapting the title of the booklet Comme quoi Napoléon n’a jamais existé, mocking the theories of astronomical mythology in fashion at the end of the eighteenth century, Gaidoz translates here the satirical essay published by students of George William Cox, professor at Oxford University. Grouped under the pseudonym of Kottabos, (after a game of Sicilian origin very popular among Athenians), they had published The Solar Myth of Oxford, and dedicated it – without permission – to that fervent zealot of Max Müller’s theories of comparative mythology. A phenomenon of fashion would emerge around this essay, which would become a model to follow for some scholars who had fun producing variations.