Beyond Reception: Renaissance Humanism and the Transformation of Classical Antiquity

Baker, Patrick/ Helmrath, Johannes/ Kallendorf, Craig

ISBN 10: 3110635771 / ISBN 13: 9783110635775

Published by De Gruyter, 2019

About this Item

214 pages. 9.44x6.69x0.71 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # x-3110635771

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Beyond Reception: Renaissance Humanism and the Transformation of Classical Antiquity
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3110635771
• ISBN 13: 9783110635775
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.52 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

Beyond Reception applies a new concept for analyzing cultural change, known as ‘transformation', the study of Renaissance humanism. Traditional scholarship takes the Renaissance humanists at their word, that they were simply viewing the ancient world as it actually was and recreating its key features within their own culture. Initially modern studies in the classical tradition accepted this claim and saw this process as largely passive. 'Transformation theory' emphasizes the active role played by the receiving culture both in constructing a vision of the past and in transforming that vision into something that was a meaningful part of the later culture. A chapter than explains the terminology and workings of 'transformation theory' is followed by essays by nine established experts that suggest how the key disciplines of grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and philosophy in the Renaissance represent transformations of what went on in these fields in ancient Greece and Rome. The picture that emerges suggests that Renaissance humanism as it was actually practiced both received and transformed the classical past, at the same time as it constructed a vision of that past that still resonates today.

About the Author

P. Baker and J. Helmrath, Humobldt University, Berlin, Germany; C. Kallendorf, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA.