Brilliantly applying insights and methodologies from anthropology, literary theory, and the social sciences to the historical study of archaic lyric, Poetry and Its Public in Ancient Greece, winner of Italy's prestigious Viareggio Prize, develops a new Picture of the literary history of Greece.

An essentially practical art, ancient Greek poetry was clocely linked to the realities of social and political life and to the actual behavior of individuals within a community. Its mythological content was didactic and pedagogical. But Greek poetry differs radically from modern forms in its mode of communication: it was designed not for reading but for performance, with musical accompaniment, before an audience. In analyzing the formal and social aspects of this performance context, Gentili illuminates such topics as oral composition and improvisation, oral transmission and memory, the connections betweek poetry and music, the changing socioeconomic situation of the artist, and the relations among poets, patrons, and the public.

About the Author
Thomas Cole is professor of Greek and Latin at Yale University.

Reviews
This is a stimulaing, informative book. Do not be deterred by the many pages given to theoretical and methodological discussions early on: they undergrind the specific readings that follow, of Archilochus and Pindar, Sappho and Anacreon, and the rest; and Gentili enlivens the more abstract considerations suggested in his titles ('the poetry of mimesis,' 'the sociology of meaning') with incisive illustrations and analogies. He keeps us aware of contexts: social and political, economic and cultural. His sense of poet and audience is acute, imaginative, philologically responsible, and humane. Kenneth J. Reckford, UNC Chapel Hill in The Classical Outlook, Winter 1989-1990. This superb and fascinating book insists upon trying to place the poetry of Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar, Archilochus, and others within its social and ritual contexts: oral performance, patron/poet relationship, and religious or communal function. Considering the evidence, such efforts must at times rely upon inspiration, but the close textual readings of individual poems, judicious use of anthropological method, and inclusion of many of the recently discovered fragments creates a vivid picture. A book that will be with us for years to come. Library Journal, September 1, 1988



Book Information
ISBN 9780801840197
Author Bruno Gentili
Format Paperback
Page Count 408
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 567g