The Near East study tour diary of Ignaz Goldziher

Abstract

Ignaz Goldziher (1850–1921) is generally acknowledged as the scholar whose work to a great extent laid the modern foundations for the study in the West of the history, culture, and religion of Islam. Issues of considerable significance are thus posed by questions concerning the individual responsible for this seminal scholarship, including, for example, such matters as his personal background, the influences that directed the course of his intellectual development, and the perspective from which he viewed the discipline he did so much to create and to which he dedicated his life. Fortunately, much material relevant to the investigation of these topics survives. In addition to Goldziher's vast scholarly corpus, important collections of his correspondence with colleagues and friends are extant, primarily in Budapest. The material published to date includes Goldziher's letters to Immanuel Löw (1854–1944), a discussion – with important extracts – of those to S. A. Poznanski (1864–1921), the letters of Solomon Schechter (1849–1915), Max Nordau (1849–1923) and Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857–1936) to Goldziher, and a selection from the correspondence between Theodor Nöldeke (1836–1930) and Goldziher. His 1890 memoirs and subsequent diary have also been published, and Raphael Patai has now brought to light another important document, Goldziher'sKeleti Naplóm(“My Oriental Diary”), in English translation with a detailed introduction offering a psychological portrait of the author.