Talk:Lynn Townsend White Jr.

Quote source?
Does anyone know the source of this Lynn White quote?
 * "If they were dark, it was the darkness of the womb."

(in reference to the so-called "Dark Ages")

--Stbalbach 02:04, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * How interesting... I just placed that quote here. I was wondering the same thing. Srnec 20:30, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Now I see the context of this... It was I who first added that quote to Dark Ages... Srnec 20:31, 9 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I did A9.com searches, JSTOR searches, Google searches -- can't find anything. -- Stbalbach 00:23, 10 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I'll track down the book in which I read that in my university library. Hopefully it gives a source (it wasn't a White book). Srnec 16:42, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

". . . if it was dark, it was the darkness of the womb." quoted in The Tenth Century: How Dark the Dark Ages? edited by Robert Sabatine Lopez. Holt, Reinhart and Winston (1959). Srnec 03:46, 8 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Excellent! How did you find it? -- Stbalbach 13:51, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

I searched in my university library as I said I would, but I couldn't find it until yesterday. I saw a book by Lopez on a shelf and I immediately remembered the other book and this quotation. The reason you won't find it in any other work is that Lopez is quoting from a speech White made at a convention. It seems from the context that the quotation pertains only to the tenth century, but that's not absolutely certain, as the term "dark" is common to all the dark ages and not just the last century of them (so, then, is the "wombness"). I'm not sure if this should be quoted at the Dark Ages article because of that (at least not without a reference to the 10th century), but I don't think White would have disagreed with the wider implications. Srnec 14:53, 8 September 2006 (UTC)


 * yeah should be OK, the quote is not being used as a citation, just a related "see also" type of thing, as you say the interpretation is left open to the reader. It is obscure but thats good it is now referenced, probably the only place it has been done so outside the source. -- Stbalbach 15:46, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

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