The Classical Way of Life: An Interview with Victoria Houseman

Victoria Houseman is Associate Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin River-Falls. She is the author of American Classicist: The Life and Loves of Edith Hamilton.

1. Professor Houseman, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. Your areas of interest include the history of the British Empire, Colonial Africa, and European women’s history. Your most recent work is on the American classicist Edith Hamilton. What drew you to write about Edith Hamilton?

What drew me to write about Edith Hamilton as a British historian was her intellectual debt- sometimes acknowledged – to so many nineteenth-century British thinkers. The influence of John Ruskin and Matthew Arnold is quite visible in her writing. For example, in The Echo of Greece, published in 1957, she drew a link between a nation’s art and its moral state, arguing that the decline of Athens could be seen in its art – a very Ruskinian argument. The influence of Benjamin Jowett is very clear in the edition of Plato’s dialogues that she co-edited with Huntington Cairns and which was published in 1961. In compiling that work, she had to deal with the legacy of Jowett, and it was interesting to see what was kept of his work and what was rejected.

Hamilton was firmly anti-imperial, as again seen in The Echo of Greece. This book was of course written after World War II when the British Empire was disintegrating. The end of empire, however, was something she saw as a positive change in the world. The greatest danger of a large military victory, she felt, was the temptation of the victor to oppress its former enemy. She did not want the United States to build an empire after the war. In 1954, she even told the British writer Elizabeth Sprigge that Britain could lose its empire as long as it did not lose its cultural achievements. Hamilton therefore had a great deal to say about the end of empire and, as someone who teaches British Empire history, including the post war decolonization, I find her views on the dissolution of the empire quite fascinating.

A simpler answer to this question of why I wanted to write about Edith Hamilton is that I share her hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

2. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote a controversial post after the death of George H.W. Bush titled, “Why We Miss the WASPs.” Edith Hamilton lived at the twilight of Anglo-Saxon dominance of American culture. Why were the classics important to the Anglo-Saxon ruling class?

Classics were important to the Anglo-Saxon ruling class because the literature taught the ideal qualities of good character. One can see this in The Greek Way, both in its original form and in the chapters that she added during World War II, especially in the chapter on Xenophon. The ideal Greek citizen was a man of intellect as well as athletic ability. He was an ideal citizen-soldier. One can this ideal in someone Edith met in her Washington years, the Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., the only member of Congress to resign his seat and seek active duty in the war. But it is a very masculine ideal and there are a few signs (just a few) that Edith Hamilton wrestled with that. In her chapter on Xenophon, she mentions how few accounts we have of the lives of women in ancient Greece.

3. Hamilton was a “Classical Liberal” or what was has been called “Old Liberal” (as opposed to the New Left or contemporary Millennial left). What was at the core of Hamilton’s political beliefs?

I think that classic liberalism was the core of Edith Hamilton’s political beliefs. One can see this in her reform activities in the Progressive Era, when she campaigned actively for women’s right to vote and, interestingly, for compulsory school attendance laws. Without the vote, women could not be full citizens and active participants in society. Without even basic education, children would grow up unable to participate as citizens either. While liberals in general opposed laws that compelled certain behaviors, some made exceptions for laws that acted in the interests of children, as they are obviously more vulnerable than adults. Without basic literacy and numeracy, children would struggle to participate in society when they reached adulthood. But elsewhere in Hamilton’s writings, one sees skepticism about the government’s ability to compel behavior. Again, her chapter on Xenophon shows her opposition to temperance and prohibition. In her correspondence with her friend, the drama critic named John Mason Brown, she voiced her doubts about President Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, feeling that a government could not protect individuals from fear. Later in life, her classic liberalism leaned towards the conservative side, but again she hoped that one of the effects of World War II would be that more people in the world would have the freedom to govern themselves.

4. Hamilton’s Mythology and the classics in general are often associated in the American popular imagination with conservatives and the contemporary culture of conservative classical schools. Has it always been the case that classics have had a conservative stamp?

Historically, classical education was only for men of the privileged classes. I think that Edith Hamilton, born in 1867, was from one of the earliest generations of women to have access to a classical education. Bryn Mawr College, which opened in 1885, offerevod an extensive classics curriculum in part to challenge the idea that only men could be classical scholars. It was considered important that women demonstrate success in an area that had always been intellectually dominated by men. During the time that Edith Hamilton studied at Bryn Mawr College (1891-1895), she was introduced to German philological methods, the intellectual prerogative of men, while enjoying the more English-inspired and popular study of classics as the aesthetic inspiration for all Western literary work. The students at Bryn Mawr made use of classical imagery for their own purposes, as seen in their student celebrations.

5. Hamilton seemed to prefer Greece to Rome. Why?

Edith Hamilton did prefer Greece to Rome, as is pretty evident in The Roman Way. She believed that the Greeks were spiritually more advanced than the Romans. The Greeks had achieved the ideal balance of mind and spirit, and this allowed them to continue to seek knowledge, both intellectually and spiritually. This meant that the Greeks were closer to Christianity than the Romans were. She saw Socrates as a worthy predecessor to Jesus and some similarities between his thought and ideas in the New Testament. While she was interested in Stoicism, which became a Roman religion, the Romans, in her view, could not get beyond that spiritual point.

6. Hamilton believed that Greek culture could be useful to Americans in the twentieth-century to combat against fascism and communism. Why did she think classical education could fight totalitarianism?

She did believe that classical education could combat fascism and communism. She argued that the ancient Greeks had developed the concept of the individual citizen who takes responsibility and practices self-restraint. American citizens needed to practice this ideal in the post Second World War world, to help avoid the excess of either fascist or communist regimes, neither of which respected the individual. In America, citizens had to actively participate in society, and they had to debate ideas because a democracy allows for these processes. The self-discipline required to study Latin helped an individual become a good citizen. To Edith Hamilton, the study of the roots of Western civilization also gave the individual a sense of the core values of society, helping them to maintain democratic institutions.

7. Hamilton has been criticized for her belief in the superiority of Western Civilization. Could you describe her thoughts on why she thought the West was the best?

Edith Hamilton believed that the West, particularly the ancient Greeks, allowed the individual the freedom to develop intellectually and spiritually. Democracy and Christianity had both developed in the West. One can see this in her fascination with Asian Christians such as Toyohiko Kagawa and Lin Yutang. These were men who had become convinced by a core Western idea, therefore demonstrating the power of Christianity to inspire an individual’s spiritual development. At times in her life, she seemed interested in a great blending of eastern and western ideas, as demonstrated in her fascination with Ezra Pound’s idea of staging a Sophoclean tragedy as a Noh drama. Also, it is important to note that she did not believe that every Western accomplishment was great, particularly in the area of science. She opposed the dropping of the atomic bomb and was dubious at best about lunar exploration, which was just beginning to be discussed towards the end of her life.

8. Some have argued for “canceling” classics in general due to their allegedly reactionary quality. What are your thoughts on this?

I would have to come down on the side of continuing the study of classics. I am an historian, not a classical scholar, but I do think that the study of classics allows us to understand the roots of great ideas such as democratic government. Both of my parents studied Asia and part of my family is Chinese. As a graduate student, I was drawn in to the study of African history, which is fascinating. I think it is important that students today have a chance to study various regions of the world, but they should also understand the origins of our political system.

9. Can classics transcend political strife?

I don’t know if classics can transcend political strife or not. I certainly hope that all Americans can agree on the core tenets of classic liberalism – representative government and civil liberties – and perhaps understanding the origins of those ideas can help overcome the division that is evident in our society right now.

10. You are a university professor at time of increasing turmoil for higher education. What would you say to a young person who want to pursue a history Ph.D.?

I would advise anyone considering graduate school in history to pursue it for the love of the subject. The passion for history -whatever one’s field within it – is what will help the individual survive the challenges of higher education today. If one is certain that one loves the study of history, one will persist. The pursuit of the intellectual life will keep one going.

Print