The Classical Tradition

The legacy of ancient Greece and Rome has been imitated, resisted, misunderstood, and reworked by every culture that followed. In this volume, some five hundred articles by a wide range of scholars investigate the afterlife of this rich heritage in the fields of literature, philosophy, art, architecture, history, politics, religion, and science.

Originally published in 1949, Gilbert Highet's seminal The Classical Tradition is a herculean feat of comparative literature and a landmark publication in the history of classical reception. As Highet states in the opening lines of his Preface, this book outlines "the chief ways in which Greek and Latin influence has moulded the literatures of western Europe and America". With that simple statement, Highet takes his reader on a sweeping exploration of the history of western literature. To summarize what he covers is a near-impossible task. Discussions of Ovid and French literature of the Middle Ages and Chaucer's engagement with Virgil and Cicero lead, swiftly, into arguments of Christian versus "pagan" works in the Renaissance, Baroque imitations of Seneca, and the (re)birth of satire. Building momentum through Byron, Tennyson, and the rise of "art of art's sake", Highet, at last, arrives at his conclusion: the birth and establishment of modernism. Though his humanist style may appear out-of-date in today's postmodernist world, there is a value to ensuring this influential work reaches a new generation, and Highet's light touch and persuasive, engaging voice guarantee the book's usefulness for a contemporary audience. Indeed, the book is free of the jargon-filled style of literary criticism that plagues much of current scholarship. Accompanied by a new foreword by renown critic Harold Bloom, this reissue will enable new readers to appreciate the enormous legacy of classical literature in the canonical works of medieval, Renaissance, and modern Europe and America.

A Companion to the Classical Tradition accommodates the pressing need for an up-to-date introduction and overview of the growing field of reception studies. A comprehensive introduction and overview of the classical tradition - the interpretation of classical texts in later centuries Comprises 26 newly commissioned essays from an international team of experts Divided into three sections: a chronological survey, a geographical survey, and a section illustrating the connections between the classical tradition and contemporary theory

The Classical Tradition: Art, Literature, Thought presents an authoritative, 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 from a classical perspective. Features a unique combination of chronological range, cultural scope, coherent argument, and unified analysis Written in a lively, engaging, and elegant manner Presents an innovative overview of the afterlife of antiquity Crosses disciplinary boundaries to make new sense of a rich variety of material, rarely brought together Fully illustrated with a mix of color and black & white images

A reissue in paperback of a title first published in 1949.

These fifteen essays on Nietzsche's indebtedness to the Classical Tradition were composed by scholars in the fields of philosophy, theology, German and Classics. The essays roughly cover the following epochs: the age of the Fathers of the Western Church, medieval scholasticism, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, Weimar Classicism, Romanticism and the several other intellectual trends and movements in the nineteenth century. Collection includes three essays comparing Nietzsche's perceptions of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates with those (respectively) of Augustine, Aquinas, and Hamann. Three essays treat Nietzsche's relationship to Goethe, Schiller, and Heine. Three deal with Nietzsche and French literature or thought, one explores possible parallels between Nietzsche and Dante, another the extent of his debt to Byron. Four contributions center on Nietzsche's view of tragedy, and an older study has been expanded to show the underlying harmony of Nietzsche's conception with that of the French classical tragedians. This book affirms and fulfills the need for serious scholarship by the student of Nietzsche unable to work in German, while presenting a readable cross-section of the work being done relating Nietzsche to the intellectual tradition from which he sprang.

Composition in the Classical Tradition borrows from late antiquity a series of composition exercises called the progymnasmata to teach the art of persuasion. The exercises apply an understanding of the invention and composition of arguments from ancient rhetoric to a writer's own forms of persuasive communication. This book is structured to provide an effectively graded sequence of exercises, manageable at each step, from the simple to the more difficult and from the concrete to the abstract, within an explicit rhetorical framework. Learn how to compose an essay or a speech by first becoming proficient at its parts Composition in the Classical Tradition features a variety of ancient forms myths, historical episodes, descriptions, fables, proverbs, anecdotes, and speeches for readers to enjoy while learning how to write and speak persuasively. For anyone interested in composition and classical rhetoric.

Since the early 1960s, the rigor and conceptual clarity of Alan Colquhoun's criticism and theory have consistently stimulated debate and have served as an impetus for the pursuit of new directions in both theory and practice. This collection of essays displays Colquhoun's concern with developing a coherent discourse for the rampant pluralism that dominates contemporary architecture. Alan Colquhoun is a practicing architect and Professor of Architecture at Princeton University. His previous collection of essays received the 1985 Architectural Critics Award.