Two History Scholars Are to Split $1 Million Award

By DINITIA SMITH

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/books/15klug.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Two historians, John Hope Franklin and Yu Ying-shih, will share this year’s $1 million John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity.

It’s the prize that Alfred Nobel forgot. In 2000 Mr. Kluge, the billionaire, gave $73 million to the Library of Congress for a scholarly center and other projects, which now include the million-dollar prize. The award was specifically intended for areas that the Nobel Prizes do not cover, like history, political science, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, religion, linguistics and criticism.

The prize is to be announced today in Washington.

Mr. Franklin, 91, is by far the better known, widely regarded as among the first scholars to explore fully the role of African-Americans in the nation’s history. The library’s announcement said that Mr. Franklin, emeritus professor of history at Duke University, demonstrated that “blacks were active agents in shaping their own and the nation’s history.” Until 1943, when Mr. Franklin published his first book, “The Free Negro in North Carolina,” historians had paid little attention to what was called “Negro history.” His 1947 book, “From Slavery to Freedom,” remains a landmark survey of the subject. Most recently, he has published a memoir, “Mirror to America.”

In an interview from Durham, N.C., Mr. Franklin said he was still somewhat “speechless” after learning of the award. At least some of the prize money, he said, would go to a fellowship at Fisk University in Nashville, which he endowed in memory of his wife, Aurelia, a librarian. The couple met at Fisk when she was 16 and he 17.

The library’s announcement calls the second winner, Mr. Yu, 76, “the most influential Chinese intellectual working in both the Chinese and American worlds.” Mr. Yu, emeritus professor of history and Chinese studies at Princeton, is an intellectual historian with a wide reach that spans Confucianism and the modern world.

He has been particularly interested in the way Chinese intellectuals have combined the religious and the secular, he said in an interview from his home in Princeton. “They have a moral, political, social purpose,” he said, “as compared to the West.” His most recent book is on the 12th-century Confucian scholar Zhu Xi, who has been compared to Thomas Aquinas. Zhu helped codify the Confucian canon and wrote extensive commentaries.

Mr. Yu has also been an outspoken supporter of the democracy movement in China. But despite this, his work, much of which is in Chinese, is widely read on the mainland.

Mr. Yu said he did not yet know what he would do with his prize money, though “part of it will go to taxes.”

The library solicited nominations for the Kluge Prize from more than 2,000 people. The nominations were then winnowed and reviewed by a panel of scholars. The ultimate decision was made by the librarian of Congress, James H. Billington.

The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony on Dec. 5 at the library. Mr. Franklin and Mr. Yu are to give symposiums on their work at the library next year.

中研院士余英時 獲克魯奇獎

被譽為「最具影響力的中國知識分子」 與美91歲學者富蘭克林共享

編譯朱邦賢／報導

紐約時報15日報導，中研院院士、史學家余英時和富蘭克林（John Hope Franklin）因為在人文研究上貢獻卓著，共同榮獲今年度克魯奇獎，將分享100萬美元（約台幣3300萬元）獎金。 

國會圖書館說，76歲的余英時是「在中國和美國領域中最具影響力的中國知識分子」。余英時是普林斯頓大學史學和中文榮譽教授，望重士林，從儒學到現代世局，無所不精。 

余英時在普林斯頓大學家中接受訪問時表示，他對中國知識分子如何結合宗教和世俗的現象特別留意。余英時說：「較諸西方知識分子，中國知識分子有他們的道德、政治和社會目的。」 

余英時最近的新書探討12世紀的大儒朱熹，書中將朱熹和十三世紀義大利神學家托馬斯‧阿奎那（Thomas Aquinas ）做一比較。阿奎那被公認是中世紀最重要的經院哲學家，他的著作「神學大全」和「反異教大全」使天主教神學成為經典。 

余英時一向支持中國大陸的民主運動不遺餘力，儘管如此，他大多以中文寫成的作品在大陸仍然十分通行。 

余英時說，獎金怎麼花，他一時還沒有計畫，只知道「部分要繳稅」。 

91歲的杜克大學榮譽教授富蘭克林在美國是響鐺鐺的人物，也是率先研究非洲裔美國人如何在美國歷史上扮演重要角色的著名學者之一。 

今年共有2000餘人提名角逐克魯奇獎，最後決定獎落誰家的是國會圖書館長畢靈頓。頒獎典禮下月5日在國會圖書館舉行。 

克魯奇獎 

克魯奇獎地位如同人文學界的諾貝爾獎。2000年億萬富翁克魯奇捐款7300萬美元（約台幣24億元）給國會圖書館，設立學術中心和其他計畫。克魯奇獎就是其中之一。這個獎特別頒給諾貝爾獎未納入的歷史、政治學、社會學、哲學、人類學、宗教、語言學等範疇有傑出貢獻者。 

【2006-11-16/聯合報/C7版/教育】