Hermogenes On Types Of Style

Cecil Wooten has produced the first translation into any modern langauage of a key treatise of the ancient world. He provides a faithful English translation of Hermogenes' analysis based on a reliable Greek text established by Rabe at the beginning of thi

Cecil Wooten has produced the first translation into any modern langauage of a key treatise of the ancient world. He provides a faithful English translation of Hermogenes' analysis based on a reliable Greek text established by Rabe at the beginning of this century and includes a substantial scholarly introduction and notes that will help the reader better understand Hermogenes, his exposition, and the historical and cultural context in which it was produced. Hermogenes' work is both systematic and complex. He outlines, with almost mathematical precision, seven basic types of ideal forms of style -- Clarity, Grandeur, Beauty, Rapidity, Character, Sincerity, and Force -- some of which he breaks down into subtypes. Wooten explains how the stylistic system works, what it has in common with other systems developed in antiquity, and the special problems it presents to the translator. Wooten also provides two short essays. The first compares the system of stylistic analysis developed by Hermogenes with those of earlier critics, in particular Cicero and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. A single passage of Demosthenes is analyzed according to these three systems in order to illustrate how Hermogenes' system best captures its subtleties and nuances. The second essay discusses Hermogenes' concept of panegyric oratory and how it relates to the larger problem of secondary rhetoric. This translation makes On Types of Style accessible to classicists as well as Byzantinists, students and scholars of the Renaissance, rhetoricians, and, more broadly, students of literary criticism at any level. Originally published in 1987. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Describes the most important individual contributions to the development of Renaissance rhetoric and analyzes the new ideas which Renaissance thinkers contributed to rhetorical theory.

Homer the Rhetorician is the first monograph study devoted to the monumental Commentary on the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessalonike, one of the most renowned orators and teachers of the Byzantine twelfth century. Homeric poetry was a fixture in the Byzantine educational curriculum and enjoyed special popularity under the Komnenian emperors. For Eustathios, Homer was the supreme paradigm of eloquence and wisdom. Writing for an audience of aspiring or practising prose writers, he explains in his commentary what it is that makes Homer's composition so successful in rhetorical terms. This study explores the exemplary qualities that Eustathios recognizes in the poet as author and the Iliad as rhetorical masterpiece. In this way, it advances our understanding of the rhetorical thought of a leading intellectual and the role of a cultural authority as respected as Homer in one of the most fertile periods in Byzantine literary history.

Here, for the first time in one volume, are all the extant writings focusing on rhetoric that were composed before the fall of Rome. This unique anthology of primary texts in classical rhetoric contains the work of 24 ancient writers from Homer through St. Augustine, including Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Tacitus, and Longinus. Along with many widely recognized translations, special features include the first English translations of works by Theon and Nicolaus, as well as new translations of two works by important sophists, Gorgias’ encomium on Helen and Alcidamas’ essay on composition. The writers are grouped chronologically into historical periods, allowing the reader to understand the scope and significance of rhetoric in antiquity. Introductions are included to each period, as well as to each writer, with writers’ biographies, major works, and salient features of excerpts.

This book offers a counter-traditional account of the history of both rhetoric and poetics. In reply to traditional rhetorical histories, which view "rhetoric" primarily as an art of practical civic oratory, the book argues in four extended essays that epideictic-poetic eloquence was central, even fundamental, to the rhetorical tradition in antiquity. In essence, Jeffrey Walker's study accomplishes what in the world of rhetoric studies amounts to a revolution: he demonstrates that in antiquity rhetoric and poetry could not be viewed separately.

Since its original publication by UNC Press in 1980, this book has provided thousands of students with a concise introduction and guide to the history of the classical tradition in rhetoric, the ancient but ever vital art of persuasion. Now, George Kennedy offers a thoroughly revised and updated edition of Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian and Secular Tradition. From its development in ancient Greece and Rome, through its continuation and adaptation in Europe and America through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, to its enduring significance in the twentieth century, he traces the theory and practice of classical rhetoric through history. At each stage of the way, he demonstrates how new societies modified classical rhetoric to fit their needs. For this edition, Kennedy has updated the text and the bibliography to incorporate new scholarship; added sections relating to women orators and rhetoricians throughout history; and enlarged the discussion of rhetoric in America, Germany, and Spain. He has also included more information about historical and intellectual contexts to assist the reader in understanding the tradition of classical rhetoric.