The Classical Tradition: Art, Literature, Thought

'Reorganizes the field and challenges our preconceptions in both familiar areas and in disciplines that are not usually treated in studies on the classical tradition. A must read.'
- Craig Kallendorf, Texas A&M University

'An exciting read: energetic, considered, sparklingly written. One gets the feeling that all angles have been properly covered. An ambitious project brilliantly realized.'
- Matthew Bell, King's College London

'The authors have pulled off the seemingly impossible task of fusing their three voices into a single, urgently argued discourse, and for that reason among many others, this will be a wonderful book to read and to use, for all kinds of readers.'
- Terence Cave, St John's College, Oxford

'I found the text very readable and I particularly enjoyed the post-postmodernist take on many issues. It is hugely stimulating and intriguing throughout.'
- Deborah Howard, University of Cambridge

'I think this is an absolutely splendid text, unique in conception, elegant and ingenious in design, and extremely ???user-friendly??? in styling and presentation.'
- David Hopkins, University of Bristol

'A prodigiously ambitious, cornucopian book . . . so rich that no review will do it justice.'
- Paul Barolsky, University of Virginia, Arion

'Impressive power and learning.'
- Justus Cobet, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Sehepunkte

'Succeeds in providing an overarching account of a huge sweep of cultural history without losing sight of the host of nuances and particularities associated with such an overwhelmingly large topic.'
- Pablo Maurette, University of Chicago, Comparative Critical Studies

'Highly innovative...engrossing...the book is marvellously packed throughout with insights and provocations. It conducts, to its great benefit and ours, a properly theoretical enquiry.'
- Charles Martindale, University of Bristol, Translation and Literature

The classical tradition – the legacy of Ancient Greece and Rome – is a large, diverse, and important field that continues to shape human endeavour and engender wide public interest. The Classical Tradition: Art, Literature, Thought presents an original, coherent, and wide-ranging guide to the afterlife of Greco-Roman antiquity in later Western cultures and a ground-breaking reinterpretation of large aspects of Western culture as a whole – English-speaking, French, German, and Italian – from a classical perspective. Encompassing almost two millennia of developments in art, literature, and thought, the authors provide an overview of the field, a concise point of reference, and a critical review of selected examples, from Titian to T. S. Eliot, from the hero to concepts of government. They engage in current theoretical debate on various fronts, from hermeneutics to gender.

Themes explored include the Western languages and their continuing engagement with Latin and Greek; the role of translation; the intricate relationship of pagan and Christian; the ideological implications of the classical tradition; the interplay between the classical tradition and the histories of scholarship and education; the relation between high and low culture; and the myriad complex relationships – comparative, contrastive, and interactive – between art, literature, and thought themselves. Authoritative and accessible, The Classical Tradition: Art, Literature, Thought offers new insights into the powerful legacy of the ancient world from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the present day.