Description
Recent scholarship on early Greek lyric has been primarily concerned with the immediate contexts of its first performance. This volume instead turns its attention to the rhetoric and realities of poetic permanence. Taking Pindar and archaic Greek literary culture as its focus, it offers a new reading of Pindar's victory odes which explores not only how they were received by those who first experienced them, but also what they can mean to later audiences. Part One of the discussion investigates Pindar's relationship to both of these audiences, demonstrating how his epinicia address the listeners present at their premiere performance and also a broader secondary audience across space and time. It argues that a full appreciation of these texts involves taking both perspectives into account. Part Two describes how Pindar engages with a wide variety of other poetry, particularly earlier lyric, in order to situate his work both within an immanent poetic history and a contemporary poetic culture. It shows how Pindar's vision of the world shaped the meaning of his work and illuminates the context within which he anticipated its permanence. The book offers new insights into the texts themselves and invites us to rethink early Greek poetic culture through a combination of historical and literary perspectives.
About the Author
Henry Spelman was raised in Philadelphia and received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 2015. He is the author of numerous articles on early Greek poetry and currently holds the WHD Rouse Junior Research Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge.
Reviews
Spelman's thought-provoking book, with a wide variety of literary evidence and the brand new perspectives he offers, is a useful work that accomplishes its aleged purpose. I therefore recommend it to all interested readers. * M Sotiriou, CJ-Online *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198821274
Author Henry Spelman
Format Hardback
Page Count 376
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 594g
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 147mm * 28mm
About the Author
Henry Spelman was raised in Philadelphia and received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 2015. He is the author of numerous articles on early Greek poetry and currently holds the WHD Rouse Junior Research Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge.
Reviews
Spelman's thought-provoking book, with a wide variety of literary evidence and the brand new perspectives he offers, is a useful work that accomplishes its aleged purpose. I therefore recommend it to all interested readers. * M Sotiriou, CJ-Online *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198821274
Author Henry Spelman
Format Hardback
Page Count 376
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 594g
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 147mm * 28mm
