Troy, Carthage and the Victorians : the drama of classical ruins in the nineteenth-century imagination / Rachel Bryant Davies.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davies, Rachel Bryant, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--19th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

English literature--Classical influences.

Trojan War--Literature and the war.

Trojan War.

Troy (Extinct city)--In literature.

Troy (Extinct city).

Carthage (Extinct city)--In literature.

Carthage (Extinct city).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 383 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Playful, popular visions of Troy and Carthage, backdrops to the Iliad and Aeneid's epic narratives, shine the spotlight on antiquity's starring role in nineteenth-century culture. This is the story of how these ruined cities inspired bold reconstructions of the Trojan War and its aftermath, how archaeological discoveries in the Troad and North Africa sparked dramatic debates, and how their ruins were exploited to conceptualise problematic relationships between past, present and future. Rachel Bryant Davies breaks new ground in the afterlife of classical antiquity by revealing more complex and less constrained interaction with classical knowledge across a broader social spectrum than yet understood, drawing upon methodological developments from disciplines such as history of science and theatre history in order to do so. She also develops a thorough critical framework for understanding classical burlesque and engages in in-depth analysis of a toy-theatre production.

Contents:

Prologue

Troy and Carthage in the nineteenth century

Homeric pilgrimage, topography and archaeology

The Trojan War at the circus

The Iliad and Aeneid burlesqued

Carthage and future ruins

Epilogue: Troy and Carthage as "a beacon and a warning".

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 12 Mar 2018).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Edition:

Print version: 9781107192669

ISBN:

1-108-13554-4

1-108-13160-3

1-108-13680-X