[lit-ideas] All You Need is Löb, Lœb, Loeb, Love is all You Need
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 09:48:06 EDT
"When you write "the Loeb", I assume you mean Henry Loeb who was mayor of
Memphis during the Garbage Strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King,
Jr. He was educated at Brown [R. I., University], had a degree in [Languages,
English] and was thorough-going racist and anti-labor bigot. He refused to
integrate the city schools in a peaceful manner like the mayors of Atlanta and
Houston did, thus setting Memphis back several years in development. His
refusal to recognize and negotiate with the garbage workers union is what
brought MLK to Memphis and his subsequent death. When his tenure as Mayor was
over,
Loeb he moved to Forrest City, AR about 45 miles west of Memphis -- a town
named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the original founders of the KKK --
an appropriate place for him. He died not very long ago. And good riddance.
I'm sure that's the Loeb you mean. I don't know of any other Loebs."
Mmmm. Interesting. I was really wonder about the surname Loeb. I suppose in
German should come out as:
"Löb" and in Roman as "Lœb".
Indeed, it is tragic what you wrote since in Old Finn, "Löb" means "Love".
I thought it was a Jewish name -- and yes Jewish people can be racist, so no
wonder there --. I came to the conclusion it could be a Jewish surname
because he dedicates 45 volumes of his library to "Jewish Antiquities" (in
either
Greek or Latin, though).
But then I think it could be a German name, which would explain he's moving
to the KKK town you mention, "Forrest".
The association of the Löb with Heinemann is interesting (Recall that the
LCL was published originally in England by Heinemann. Now this again I take to
be either German or Continental Jewish.
The surname strictly means,
hinnyman
which is the result of the mating of a man (or female) and the offspring of
a stallion and a she-ass. I didn't think Harvard was too much influenced by
Jewish culture, so perhaps this is all wrong and Loeb is just a good surname
-- the Massachussets branch anyway -- for a cultured German family.
I'm assuming Henry Loeb was the nephew of James Loeb, the founder of the
James Loeb Classical Library (c) The President and Fellows of Harvard College
[never University]. This was founded in 1911 -- just before the Great War and
when the Americans really had important things on their agenda -- like editing
Tacitus and Suetonius -- rather than kill Germans.
The tragic side is that perhaps Loeb's son _was_ drafted and perhaps he was
even killed in Somme. But the man continued with the project of the library,
which today stands as a memorial to Graeco-Roman civilisation and what meant
to be a 'cultured' gentleman.
The fact that Henry was a bad man could possibly be traced to BROWN. This
'educational' institution is as they say in New England, "neither fish nor
fowl" -- not really Ivy League nor red brick. The students are drawn mainly
for
the beauty of Newport and the possibilities of sailing (although they soon
realize they have to stay in BORING 'Providence', which is quite a stretch to
Newport.
Thanks for the eponymy, anyway,
JL
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