situated ... with

[pars]

Dear all:
What is the exact meaning of the words in bold in the following passage? It is from the book Rethinking Iranian Nationalism and Modernity, edited by Scot Aghaie and Marashi, p. 74:

"The author situated his writings with the Neoplatonic spiritualism of the Napoleonic period in Germany, an intellectual movement that countered empiricist, rationalist, dualist, and materialist traditions:"

Of course, the meaning of situate is clear, but its meaning with the preposition "with" is unclear for me. Does it mean "adjust"?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[PeterCW]

Without more context it is difficult to interpret. Does "his" refer to the author's own writing or is the author discussing the work of a third party mentioned in a previous paragraph?

 

[pars]

Hi:
The whole passage is as follow:

The emphasis on transcending the mundane world toward a greater, all-encompassing reality, according to McGlathery, “is the identifying stamp of Neoplatonic criticism.” In his exhaustive study of the German artist E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822), McGlathery asserted that Hoffmann found German literature distinctive in its approach to transcendent faith, which had very important implications for modern sexuality. The author’s main argument is that Hoffmann wrote about sexual sublimation or “substitution fantasies . . . especially of the sort resulting from persecution complexes related to suppressed sexual guilt.” The author situated his writings with the Neoplatonic spiritualism of the Napoleonic period in Germany, an intellectual movement that countered empiricist, rationalist, dualist, and materialist traditions:

 

[BobK]

The 'his' is still ambiguous. I think it probably refers to Hoffmann, who although primarily an artist may well have written about his attitude to art and to his subjects and methods and intentions etc. In that case McGlathery may have been saying that Hoffmann regarded his (Hoffmann's) writings as going along with/sympathizing with/suiting the fashion/.... of 'the Neoplatonic spiritualism of the Napoleonic period in Germany'', and the 'situating' suggests that this was intentional - that Hoffmann expected or hoped to be classed as one of those neo-platonists

But that's just a guess. The 'his' might refer to McGlathery. This demonstrates how careful you have to be with 'his' If he'd been writing in - say - Latin it would have been clear: suus = McG's and eius = Hoffmann's!

 

[jutfrank]

I'm pretty sure the 'his' is Hoffman. McGlathery is saying that Hoffman's writings belong with Neoplatonic spiritualism.