Literary Criticism : Ancient & Classical

The literature of Greek and Roman Antiquity handed down in manuscripts was exposed to the constant danger of texts being corrupted by manipulations not sanctioned by the author concerned. This can also be demonstrated in translations, for example if the text of a foreign-language book was altered by a translator without the original author’s consent. The authors, however – i.e. those affected themselves – were highly conscious of their auctorial status and condemned the secondary manipulation of their works as a presumptuous attack on the integrity of the original text. The present study devotes itself to these practices of falsification and distortion using evidence presented by the authors concerned over a period stretching from Early Greece to the beginning of the Middle Ages. more...

Price: $137.00

This study examines the different representations of women in the Odyssey and their significance within the context of the poem and Greek culture. A central theme of the book is the visualisation of the Odyssey's female characters by ancient artists. more...

Price: $45.00

This is a study of ekphrasis, the art of making listeners and readers 'see' in their imagination through words alone, as taught in ancient rhetorical schools and as used by Greek writers of the Imperial period (2nd-6th centuries CE). The author places the practice of ekphrasis within its cultural context, emphasising the importance of the visual imagination in ancient responses to rhetoric, poetry and historiography. By linking the theoretical writings on ekphrasis with ancient theories of imagination and emotion and language, she brings out the persuasive and emotive function of vivid language in the literature of the period. In order to explain the ancient understanding of ekphrasis and its place within the larger system of rhetorical training, the study includes a full analysis of the ancient technical sources (rhetorical handbooks, commentaries) which aims to make these accessible to non-specialists. more...

Price: $99.95

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Price: $90.00

This study examines the role of female characters in Roman epic poetry. Its five chapters argue that the feminised landscapes, militaristic women, and beautiful female corpses of the Roman epic tradition should be interpreted in conjunction with the use of the genre by ancient educators. more...

Price: $20.00