Classical Closure - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 069104452X ISBN 13: 9780691044521

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1997

Synopsis

The study of closure has played a significant part in contemporary literary criticism and is implicated in many of its concerns, from psychological aspects of the search for an end in narrative to the order imposed upon a text by politics or culture. This collection is the first large- scale attempt to assess the implications of closure for the study of classical literature. Twelve new essays by an international group of scholars focus on endings in Greek and Latin literature and demonstrate the different sorts of questions these endings pose: What narrative strategies did Hellenistic novelists employ? What is the political subtext of Ovid's half-finished roman calendar? What cultural work is performed by the portrayal of a warrior's heroic end in the Iliad? Embracing a wide range of ancient authors and genres, the collection begins by closely examining critical approaches to closure, and ends with a comparative discussion of ancient and modern narrative. The extensive bibliography includes a survey of work in different fields that further illustrates the variety of approaches to closure.

Each of the editors has contributed an essay to this volume. Additional contributors include Sheila Murnaghan, Ian Rutherford, Carolyn Dewald, Peta Fowler, Philip Hardie, W. R. Johnson, Alessandro Barchiesi, Massimo Fusillo, and Christopher Pelling.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah H. Roberts is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Haverford College. She is the author of Apollo and his Oracle in the Oresteia. Francis M. Dunn is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Tragedy's End: Closure and Innovation in Euripidean Drama. Don Fowler is Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Jesus College, Oxford. He has contributed articles to numerous scholarly journals and essay collections.

From the Inside Flap

"The authors of these essays know that the implications of 'closure' encompass more than endings. They show us endings not only sub specie aeternitatis but also in the light of each whole work. Each of the essays incorporates some manner of political or theoretical dimension into its argument. Encompassing some of the most vital issues of critical evaluation, these essays articulate links between classical literary interpretation and contemporary currents of interpretative discourse."--Eleanor Winsor Leach, Indiana University

"This impressive and diverse collection explores the mechanics and dynamics of closure in a wide range of classical texts, demonstrating the continuing usefulness of closure as a critical category."--Ellen Oliensis, Yale University

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069104452X
• ISBN 13: 9780691044521
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328
• Editor: Roberts Deborah H., Dunn Francis, Fowler Don