Roman error : classical reception and the problem of Rome's flaws / edited by Basil Duffalo.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dufallo, Basil, editor.

Series:

Classical presences

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civilization.

Rome--Civilization--Influence.

Rome.

Europe--Civilization--Roman influences.

Europe.

Rome (Empire).

Physical Description:

x, 284 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Attempts to receive the texts, images, and material culture of ancient Greece and Rome inevitably run the risk of appropriating the past in order to authenticate the present. Exploring the ways in which the classical past has been mapped over the centuries allows us to trace the avowal and disavowal of values and identities, old and new. Classical Presences brings the latest scholarship to bear on the contexts, theory, and practice of such use, and abuse, of the classical past. In the eyes of posterity, ancient Rome is deeply flawed. The list of censures is long and varied, from political corruption and the practice of slavery, to religious intolerance and sexual immorality, yet for centuries the Romans' "errors" have not only provoked opprobrium, but also inspired wayward and novel forms of thought and representation, themselves errant in the broad sense of the Latin verb. This volume is the first to examine this phenomenon in depth, treating examples from history, philosophy, literature, psychoanalysis, and art history, from antiquity to the present, to examine how the Romans' faults have become the basis for creative experimentation, for rejections of prevailing ideology, even for comedy and delight. In demonstrating that the reception of Rome's missteps and mistakes has been far more complex than simply denouncing them as an exemplum malum to be shunned and avoided, it argues compellingly that these "alternative" receptions are historically important and enduringly relevant in their own right. "Roman error" comes to signify both ancient misstep and something that we may commit when engaging with Roman antiquity, whereby reception may even be conceived as "error" of a kind: while the volume ably addresses popular fascination with a wide range of Roman vices, including violence, imperial domination, and decadence, it also asks us to consider what makes certain receptions matter, how they matter, and why. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Error of Roman Aesthetics / Caroline Vout Vout, Caroline 15

2 Whose Mistake? The Errors of Friendship in Cicero, La Boétie, and Montaigne / Marc Bizer Bizer, Marc 37

3 Friends, Romans, Errors: Moments in the Reception of amicitia / Craig Williams Williams, Craig 53

4 Past Sovereignty: Roman Freedom for Modern Revolutionaries / Joy Connolly Connolly, Joy 75

5 Receptions of Rome in Debates on Slavery in the U.S.A. / Margaret Malamud Malamud, Margaret 97

6 The Romance of Roman Error: Encountering Antiquity in Hawthorne's The Marble Faun / Catharine Edwards Edwards, Catharine 127

7 "Im Sinne der Antike": Masochism as Roman Error in Venus in Furs / Marco Formisano Formisano, Marco 153

8 Correcting Rome with Rome: Victor Hugo's Quatrevingt-treize / Michèle Lowrie Lowrie, Michèle, Barbara Vinken Vinken, Barbara 179

9 The Roman Aura in Henry James's Daisy Miller: A Study (1878) / John Carlos Rowe Rowe, John Carlos 191

10 The Pleasures and Punishments of Roman Error: Emperor Elagabalus at the Court of Early Cinema / Maria Wyke Wyke, Maria 209

11 Psychic Life in the Eternal City: Julia Kristeva and the Narcissism of Rome / Richard Fletcher Fletcher, Richard 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-278) and index.

ISBN:

9780198803034

0198803036

OCLC:

987346482

Publisher Number:

99975433128