Literature in the Roman World: A New Perspective

by Oliver Taplin

Overview

In this volume, we are offered a new perspective on Roman literature, based on the conviction that our present appreciation for it should be informed and influenced by how it was originally perceived. From the beginning of the Roman Empire to the end of the classical era, this book focuses on the "receivers" of Roman literature-the readers, spectators, and audiences who first witnessed the works. Six contributors map out the lively and provocative surveys, covering the kinds of literature that have shaped Western culture—epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy, history, philosophy, elegy, satire, biography, and panegyric.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192893017
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	08/28/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	4.80(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Oliver Taplin is Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at Oxford University, where he is a Tutorial Fellow at Magdalen College. He is also co-director (with Edith Hall) of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama. His books include 'Homeric Soundings' (Oxford, 1992) and 'Comic Angels' (Oxford, 1993). He maintains the importance of reaching wider audiences, and has collaborated with various productions in radio, television, and the theatre.

Table of Contents

Introduction, Oliver Taplin
Latin Literature
1. Primitivism and Power: The beginnings of Latin literature, Matthew Leigh
2. Forging a national identity: Prose literature down to the time of Augustus, Christina S. Kraus
3. Escapes from orthodoxy: Poetry of the late Republic, Llewelyn Morgan
4. Creativity out of chaos: Poetry between the death of Caesar and the death of Virgil, Llewelyn Morgan
5. Coming to terms with the Empire: Poetry of the later Augustan and Tiberian period, Philip Hardie
6. The path between truculence and servility: Prose literature from Augustus to Hadrian, Christina S. Kraus
7. Oblique politics: Epic of the imperial period, Matthew Leigh
8. Imperial space and time: The literature of leisure, Catherine Connors
9. Culture wars: Latin literature from the second century to the end of the classical era, Michael Dewar
Further Reading
Chronology
Acknowledgements
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Excellent volume."—Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher