Word: finleyism
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These latter two elements are easily traced. His father, John H. Finley, Sr., was president of City College in New York and also editor of the New York Times. Young John inherited his love of writing and, when he came to Harvard from Exeter in '21, he began composing poetry. President of the Advocate, Finley published his only book of verse, Thalia, a few years after graduation from College...
...while Finley was indulging his imagination, he was also disciplining his mind with the study of Greek. During his study at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens he received an invitation to return to Harvard as a classics instructor. Finley tried teaching for a year, then he determined not to continue without a Ph.D. and a wife. Two years later, he had both--the latter the former Magdalena Greenslet...
...another eventful year for the Finleys. Finley had just completed Iris world-famous analysis of Thucydides when he was appointed Master of Eliot. Moving day, Finley recalls, was a dewildering experience. "The Master's residence was designed for Eliot's first Master, "Frisky" Merriman. He was a big man with four large children and he liked the barn-like size of these rooms. When Mrs. Finley and I toddled in with our two slender children, the place overwhelmed...
...Finley had no difficulty keeping the huge rooms filled with students, tutors, and his other friends. Casual and stimulating, his conversation mingles imaginative similes with slang like "guy" and "dope." Much of his quiet humor is self-directed, as when he sighs, "The part I take each year in the Eliot Christmas play is generally a seedy one. Usually a frowsy old character who spouts Latin and Greek. Mrs. Finley does so wish I'd get a more dashing role...
...When Finley speaks of Eliot House it is with affection but this same lightness. "Professors are like theologians," he reflects, "they are detached from College life. It is the House Masters who must perform the duties of the parish priest." There is certainly nothing unusual to Finley's mind about knowing each sophomore as he enters the House. "That's the least a person can do. And if you don't know them after three years, you might as well jump off a bridge or something...