Poetry and poetics in the Presocratic philosophers : reading Xenophanes, Parmenides and Empedocles as literature / Tom Mackenzie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mackenzie, Tom (Classicist), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Xenophanes, approximately 570 B.C.-approximately 478 B.C.

Xenophanes.

Empedocles.

Parmenides.

Didactic poetry, Greek--History and criticism.

Didactic poetry, Greek.

Pre-Socratic philosophers.

Greek poetry--History and criticism.

Greek poetry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 238 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Of the Presocratic thinkers traditionally credited with the foundation of Greek philosophy, Xenophanes, Parmenides and Empedocles are exceptional for writing in verse. This is the first book-length, literary-critical study of their work. It locates the surviving fragments in their performative and wider cultural contexts, applying intertextual and intratextual analyses in order to reconstruct the significance and impact they conveyed for ancient audiences and readers. Building on insights from literary theory and the philosophy of literature, the book sheds new light on these authors' philosophical projects and enriches our appreciation of their works as literary artefacts. It also expands our knowledge of the genres in which they wrote, of the literary culture of the Western Greek world, and of the development of Greek poetics from the Archaic to the Classical periods, exposing the influence of these thinkers on more famous Sophistic and Platonic ideas about literature.

Contents:

Introduction : philosophy and poetry, truth and symbolism

Xenophanes

Parmenides

Empedocles

Conclusion

Epilogue : the legacy of Presocratic poetics.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Apr 2021).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781108921084

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.