Author: W. Martin Bloomer
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512800996
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
For centuries after the fall of the Roman empire, the ability to write and speak pure Latin was the mark of the true scholar. But although such skill was esteemed in medieval times, the language of ancient Rome was as various as the styles of slaves and masters. Latinity and Literary Society at Rome reaches back to the early Roman empire to examine attitudes toward latinity, reviewing the contested origins of scholarly Latin in the polemical arena of Roman literature. W. Martin Bloomer shows how that literature's reflections on correct and incorrect speech functioned as part of a wider understanding of social relations and national identity in Rome. Bloomer's investigation begins with questions about the sociology of Latin literature—what interests were served by the creation of high style and how literary stylization constituted a system of social decorum—and goes on to offer readings of selected texts. Through studies of works ranging from Varro's De lingua latina to the verse fables of Augustine's freeman Phaedrus to the Annals of Tacitus, Bloomer examines conflicting claims to style not simply to set true Latin against vulgarism but also to ask who is excluding whom, why, and by what means. These texts exemplify the ways Roman literature employs representations of, and reflections on, proper and improper language to mirror the interests of specific groups who wished to maintain or establish their place in Roman society. They show how writers sought to influence the fundamental social issue of who had the power to confer legitimacy of speech and how their works used claims of linguistic propriety to reinforce the definition of "Romanness." Through Bloomer's study latinity emerges as a contested field of identity and social polemic heretofore unrecognized in classical scholarship. With its fresh interpretations of major and minor texts, Latinity and Literary Society at Rome is a literary history that significantly advances our understanding of the place of language in ancient Rome.
Latinity and Literary Society at Rome
Author: W. Martin Bloomer
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512800996
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
For centuries after the fall of the Roman empire, the ability to write and speak pure Latin was the mark of the true scholar. But although such skill was esteemed in medieval times, the language of ancient Rome was as various as the styles of slaves and masters. Latinity and Literary Society at Rome reaches back to the early Roman empire to examine attitudes toward latinity, reviewing the contested origins of scholarly Latin in the polemical arena of Roman literature. W. Martin Bloomer shows how that literature's reflections on correct and incorrect speech functioned as part of a wider understanding of social relations and national identity in Rome. Bloomer's investigation begins with questions about the sociology of Latin literature—what interests were served by the creation of high style and how literary stylization constituted a system of social decorum—and goes on to offer readings of selected texts. Through studies of works ranging from Varro's De lingua latina to the verse fables of Augustine's freeman Phaedrus to the Annals of Tacitus, Bloomer examines conflicting claims to style not simply to set true Latin against vulgarism but also to ask who is excluding whom, why, and by what means. These texts exemplify the ways Roman literature employs representations of, and reflections on, proper and improper language to mirror the interests of specific groups who wished to maintain or establish their place in Roman society. They show how writers sought to influence the fundamental social issue of who had the power to confer legitimacy of speech and how their works used claims of linguistic propriety to reinforce the definition of "Romanness." Through Bloomer's study latinity emerges as a contested field of identity and social polemic heretofore unrecognized in classical scholarship. With its fresh interpretations of major and minor texts, Latinity and Literary Society at Rome is a literary history that significantly advances our understanding of the place of language in ancient Rome.
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512800996
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
For centuries after the fall of the Roman empire, the ability to write and speak pure Latin was the mark of the true scholar. But although such skill was esteemed in medieval times, the language of ancient Rome was as various as the styles of slaves and masters. Latinity and Literary Society at Rome reaches back to the early Roman empire to examine attitudes toward latinity, reviewing the contested origins of scholarly Latin in the polemical arena of Roman literature. W. Martin Bloomer shows how that literature's reflections on correct and incorrect speech functioned as part of a wider understanding of social relations and national identity in Rome. Bloomer's investigation begins with questions about the sociology of Latin literature—what interests were served by the creation of high style and how literary stylization constituted a system of social decorum—and goes on to offer readings of selected texts. Through studies of works ranging from Varro's De lingua latina to the verse fables of Augustine's freeman Phaedrus to the Annals of Tacitus, Bloomer examines conflicting claims to style not simply to set true Latin against vulgarism but also to ask who is excluding whom, why, and by what means. These texts exemplify the ways Roman literature employs representations of, and reflections on, proper and improper language to mirror the interests of specific groups who wished to maintain or establish their place in Roman society. They show how writers sought to influence the fundamental social issue of who had the power to confer legitimacy of speech and how their works used claims of linguistic propriety to reinforce the definition of "Romanness." Through Bloomer's study latinity emerges as a contested field of identity and social polemic heretofore unrecognized in classical scholarship. With its fresh interpretations of major and minor texts, Latinity and Literary Society at Rome is a literary history that significantly advances our understanding of the place of language in ancient Rome.
The Politics of Latin Literature
Author: Thomas N. Habinek
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400822513
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 245
Book Description
This is the first book to describe the intimate relationship between Latin literature and the politics of ancient Rome. Until now, most scholars have viewed classical Latin literature as a product of aesthetic concerns. Thomas Habinek shows, however, that literature was also a cultural practice that emerged from and intervened in the political and social struggles at the heart of the Roman world. Habinek considers major works by such authors as Cato, Cicero, Horace, Ovid, and Seneca. He shows that, from its beginnings in the late third century b.c. to its eclipse by Christian literature six hundred years later, classical literature served the evolving interests of Roman and, more particularly, aristocratic power. It fostered a prestige dialect, for example; it appropriated the cultural resources of dominated and colonized communities; and it helped to defuse potentially explosive challenges to prevailing values and authority. Literature also drew upon and enhanced other forms of social authority, such as patriarchy, religious ritual, cultural identity, and the aristocratic procedure of self-scrutiny, or existimatio. Habinek's analysis of the relationship between language and power in classical Rome breaks from the long Romantic tradition of viewing Roman authors as world-weary figures, aloof from mundane political concerns--a view, he shows, that usually reflects how scholars have seen themselves. The Politics of Latin Literature will stimulate new interest in the historical context of Latin literature and help to integrate classical studies into ongoing debates about the sociology of writing.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400822513
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 245
Book Description
This is the first book to describe the intimate relationship between Latin literature and the politics of ancient Rome. Until now, most scholars have viewed classical Latin literature as a product of aesthetic concerns. Thomas Habinek shows, however, that literature was also a cultural practice that emerged from and intervened in the political and social struggles at the heart of the Roman world. Habinek considers major works by such authors as Cato, Cicero, Horace, Ovid, and Seneca. He shows that, from its beginnings in the late third century b.c. to its eclipse by Christian literature six hundred years later, classical literature served the evolving interests of Roman and, more particularly, aristocratic power. It fostered a prestige dialect, for example; it appropriated the cultural resources of dominated and colonized communities; and it helped to defuse potentially explosive challenges to prevailing values and authority. Literature also drew upon and enhanced other forms of social authority, such as patriarchy, religious ritual, cultural identity, and the aristocratic procedure of self-scrutiny, or existimatio. Habinek's analysis of the relationship between language and power in classical Rome breaks from the long Romantic tradition of viewing Roman authors as world-weary figures, aloof from mundane political concerns--a view, he shows, that usually reflects how scholars have seen themselves. The Politics of Latin Literature will stimulate new interest in the historical context of Latin literature and help to integrate classical studies into ongoing debates about the sociology of writing.
Roman Literary Culture
Author: Elaine Fantham
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421409275
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 362
Book Description
This new edition broadens the scope of Fantham’s study of literary production and its reception in Rome. Scholars of ancient literature have often focused on the works and lives of major authors rather than on such questions as how these works were produced and who read them. In Roman Literary Culture, Elaine Fantham fills that void by examining the changing social and historical context of literary production in ancient Rome and its empire. Fantham’s first edition discussed the habits of Roman readers and developments in their means of access to literature, from booksellers and copyists to pirated publications and libraries. She examines the issues of patronage and the utility of literature and shows how the constraints of the physical object itself—the ancient "book"—influenced the practice of both reading and writing. She also explores the ways in which ancient criticism and critical attitudes reflected cultural assumptions of the time. In this second edition, Fantham expands the scope of her study. In the new first chapter, she examines the beginning of Roman literature—more than a century before the critical studies of Cicero and Varro. She discusses broader entertainment culture, which consisted of live performances of comedy and tragedy as well as oral presentations of the epic. A new final chapter looks at Pagan and Christian literature from the third to fifth centuries, showing how this period in Roman literature reflected its foundations in the literary culture of the late republic and Augustan age. This edition also includes a new preface and an updated bibliography.
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421409275
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 362
Book Description
This new edition broadens the scope of Fantham’s study of literary production and its reception in Rome. Scholars of ancient literature have often focused on the works and lives of major authors rather than on such questions as how these works were produced and who read them. In Roman Literary Culture, Elaine Fantham fills that void by examining the changing social and historical context of literary production in ancient Rome and its empire. Fantham’s first edition discussed the habits of Roman readers and developments in their means of access to literature, from booksellers and copyists to pirated publications and libraries. She examines the issues of patronage and the utility of literature and shows how the constraints of the physical object itself—the ancient "book"—influenced the practice of both reading and writing. She also explores the ways in which ancient criticism and critical attitudes reflected cultural assumptions of the time. In this second edition, Fantham expands the scope of her study. In the new first chapter, she examines the beginning of Roman literature—more than a century before the critical studies of Cicero and Varro. She discusses broader entertainment culture, which consisted of live performances of comedy and tragedy as well as oral presentations of the epic. A new final chapter looks at Pagan and Christian literature from the third to fifth centuries, showing how this period in Roman literature reflected its foundations in the literary culture of the late republic and Augustan age. This edition also includes a new preface and an updated bibliography.
Beyond Greek
Author: Denis Feeney
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674496043
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
A History Today Best Book of the Year A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Horace, and other authors of ancient Rome are so firmly established in the Western canon today that the birth of Latin literature seems inevitable. Yet, Denis Feeney boldly argues, the beginnings of Latin literature were anything but inevitable. The cultural flourishing that in time produced the Aeneid, the Metamorphoses, and other Latin classics was one of the strangest events in history. “Feeney is to be congratulated on his willingness to put Roman literary history in a big comparative context...It is a powerful testimony to the importance of Denis Feeney’s work that the old chestnuts of classical literary history—how the Romans got themselves Hellenized, and whether those jack-booted thugs felt anxiously belated or smugly domineering in their appropriation of Greek culture for their own purposes—feel fresh and urgent again.” —Emily Wilson, Times Literary Supplement “[Feeney’s] bold theme and vigorous writing render Beyond Greek of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and literature of the classical world.” —The Economist
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674496043
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
A History Today Best Book of the Year A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Horace, and other authors of ancient Rome are so firmly established in the Western canon today that the birth of Latin literature seems inevitable. Yet, Denis Feeney boldly argues, the beginnings of Latin literature were anything but inevitable. The cultural flourishing that in time produced the Aeneid, the Metamorphoses, and other Latin classics was one of the strangest events in history. “Feeney is to be congratulated on his willingness to put Roman literary history in a big comparative context...It is a powerful testimony to the importance of Denis Feeney’s work that the old chestnuts of classical literary history—how the Romans got themselves Hellenized, and whether those jack-booted thugs felt anxiously belated or smugly domineering in their appropriation of Greek culture for their own purposes—feel fresh and urgent again.” —Emily Wilson, Times Literary Supplement “[Feeney’s] bold theme and vigorous writing render Beyond Greek of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and literature of the classical world.” —The Economist
A Companion to Latin Literature
Author: Stephen Harrison
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405137371
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 472
Book Description
A Companion to Latin Literature gives an authoritativeaccount of Latin literature from its beginnings in the thirdcentury BC through to the end of the second century AD. Provides expert overview of the main periods of Latin literaryhistory, major genres, and key themes Covers all the major Latin works of prose and poetry, fromEnnius to Augustine, including Lucretius, Cicero, Catullus, Livy,Vergil, Seneca, and Apuleius Includes invaluable reference material – dictionaryentries on authors, chronological chart of political and literaryhistory, and an annotated bibliography Serves as both a discursive literary history and a generalreference book
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405137371
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 472
Book Description
A Companion to Latin Literature gives an authoritativeaccount of Latin literature from its beginnings in the thirdcentury BC through to the end of the second century AD. Provides expert overview of the main periods of Latin literaryhistory, major genres, and key themes Covers all the major Latin works of prose and poetry, fromEnnius to Augustine, including Lucretius, Cicero, Catullus, Livy,Vergil, Seneca, and Apuleius Includes invaluable reference material – dictionaryentries on authors, chronological chart of political and literaryhistory, and an annotated bibliography Serves as both a discursive literary history and a generalreference book
The Ghosts of the Past
Author: Basil Dufallo
Publisher: Ohio State University Press
ISBN: 0814210449
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Book Description
The ancient Romans quite literally surrounded themselves with the dead: masks of the dead were in the atria of their houses, funerals paraded through their main marketplace, and tombs lined the roads leading into and out of the city. In Roman literature as well, the dead occupy a prominent place, indicating a close and complex relationship between literature and society. The evocation of the dead in the Latin authors of the first century BCE both responds and contributes to changing socio-political conditions during the transition from the Republic to the Empire. To understand the literary life of the Roman dead, The Ghosts of the Past develops a new perspective on Latin literature's interaction with Roman culture. Drawing on the insights of sociology, anthropology, and performance theory, Basil Dufallo argues that authors of the late Republic and early Principate engage strategically with Roman behaviors centered on the dead and their world in order to address urgent political and social concerns. Republican literature exploits this context for the ends of political competition among the clan-based Roman elite, while early imperial literature seeks to restage the republican practices for a reformed Augustan society. Calling into question boundaries of genre and literary form, Dufallo's study will revise current understandings of Latin literature as a cultural and performance practice. Works as diverse as Cicero's speeches, Propertian elegy, Horace's epodes and satires, and Vergil's Aeneid appear in a new light as performed texts interacting with other kinds of cultural performance from which they might otherwise seem isolated.
Publisher: Ohio State University Press
ISBN: 0814210449
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Book Description
The ancient Romans quite literally surrounded themselves with the dead: masks of the dead were in the atria of their houses, funerals paraded through their main marketplace, and tombs lined the roads leading into and out of the city. In Roman literature as well, the dead occupy a prominent place, indicating a close and complex relationship between literature and society. The evocation of the dead in the Latin authors of the first century BCE both responds and contributes to changing socio-political conditions during the transition from the Republic to the Empire. To understand the literary life of the Roman dead, The Ghosts of the Past develops a new perspective on Latin literature's interaction with Roman culture. Drawing on the insights of sociology, anthropology, and performance theory, Basil Dufallo argues that authors of the late Republic and early Principate engage strategically with Roman behaviors centered on the dead and their world in order to address urgent political and social concerns. Republican literature exploits this context for the ends of political competition among the clan-based Roman elite, while early imperial literature seeks to restage the republican practices for a reformed Augustan society. Calling into question boundaries of genre and literary form, Dufallo's study will revise current understandings of Latin literature as a cultural and performance practice. Works as diverse as Cicero's speeches, Propertian elegy, Horace's epodes and satires, and Vergil's Aeneid appear in a new light as performed texts interacting with other kinds of cultural performance from which they might otherwise seem isolated.
Latin Language and Latin Culture
Author: Joseph Farrell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521776639
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
A examination of stereotypical ideas about Latin and their effect on how Latin literature is read.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521776639
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
A examination of stereotypical ideas about Latin and their effect on how Latin literature is read.
Building in Words
Author: Bettina Reitz-Joosse
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197610706
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Building in Words explores the relationship between text and architecture in the Roman world from the perspective of architectural process. Ancient Romans frequently encountered buildings under construction - they experienced noisy building work, disruptive transportation of materials, and sometimes spectacular engineering feats. Bettina Reitz-Joosse analyzes how Roman authors responded to the process of building and construction in their literary works. Roman authors tell stories of architectural creation to give meaning to finished monuments. Their narratives can stress technological or logistic mastery or highlight morally problematic aspects of construction, particularly in large-scale engineering projects. While offering descriptions of the process of creating architecture, Roman writers also reflect on the creation of their own works. Building in Words demonstrates the richness of the image of construction for literary composition: writers use it to comment on the aesthetics or ambition of their literary work, to articulate the power and durability, but also the fragility of literature. Reitz-Joosse here offers original readings of a range of literary authors of the early Roman empire, including Vergil, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, and Statius, and places literary texts in dialogue with contemporary epigraphic and archaeological material. Through its focus on building as a process, Building in Words furthers our understanding of the aesthetics of both architecture and literature in ancient Rome.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197610706
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Building in Words explores the relationship between text and architecture in the Roman world from the perspective of architectural process. Ancient Romans frequently encountered buildings under construction - they experienced noisy building work, disruptive transportation of materials, and sometimes spectacular engineering feats. Bettina Reitz-Joosse analyzes how Roman authors responded to the process of building and construction in their literary works. Roman authors tell stories of architectural creation to give meaning to finished monuments. Their narratives can stress technological or logistic mastery or highlight morally problematic aspects of construction, particularly in large-scale engineering projects. While offering descriptions of the process of creating architecture, Roman writers also reflect on the creation of their own works. Building in Words demonstrates the richness of the image of construction for literary composition: writers use it to comment on the aesthetics or ambition of their literary work, to articulate the power and durability, but also the fragility of literature. Reitz-Joosse here offers original readings of a range of literary authors of the early Roman empire, including Vergil, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, and Statius, and places literary texts in dialogue with contemporary epigraphic and archaeological material. Through its focus on building as a process, Building in Words furthers our understanding of the aesthetics of both architecture and literature in ancient Rome.
Latin Literature
Author: Susanna Morton Braund
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134646771
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
This highly accessible, user-friendly work provides a fresh and illuminating introduction to the most important aspects of Latin prose and poetry. Readers are constantly encouraged to think for themselves about how and why we study the texts in question. They are stimulated and inspired to do their own further reading through engagement with a wide selection of translated extracts, and with a useful exploration of the different ways in which they can be approached. Central throughout is the theme of the fundamental connections between Latin literature and issues of elite Roman culture. The versatile structure of the book makes it suitable both for individual and class use.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134646771
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
This highly accessible, user-friendly work provides a fresh and illuminating introduction to the most important aspects of Latin prose and poetry. Readers are constantly encouraged to think for themselves about how and why we study the texts in question. They are stimulated and inspired to do their own further reading through engagement with a wide selection of translated extracts, and with a useful exploration of the different ways in which they can be approached. Central throughout is the theme of the fundamental connections between Latin literature and issues of elite Roman culture. The versatile structure of the book makes it suitable both for individual and class use.
Plagiarism in Latin Literature
Author: Scott McGill
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107019370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
A study of the concept of plagiarism in Rome and the functions that accusations and denials had in Roman culture.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107019370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
A study of the concept of plagiarism in Rome and the functions that accusations and denials had in Roman culture.