Clica una miniatura per anar a Google Books.
S'està carregant… Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures, and Innovations (2013)de Mary Beard
S'està carregant…
Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. Almost totally adapted from several years worth of book reviews, this is a fascinating survey of Greek and (mostly) Roman history by a woman who seems to know it all. At least she purports to know a lot more than the authors of most of the books she is reviewing! But she's absolutely convincing and a very good writer (check out SPQR). Who knew about the problems with translating Thucydides and Tacitus, for instance? Much of what we think we know from these writers may be the result of less than accurate--although highly memorable--translations. Beard argues that the classics are still alive and well despite the great decrease in knowledge of classical languages. Her argument is pretty convincing. A very enjoyable and enlightening read. Sense ressenyes | afegeix-hi una ressenya
PremisDistincions
Mary Beard is one of the world's best-known classicists, an academic with a rare gift for communicating with a wide audience. Here, she draws on thirty years of teaching about Greek and Roman history to provide a panoramic portrait of the classical world that draws surprising parallels with contemporary society. We are taken on a guided tour of antiquity, encountering some of the most famous (and infamous) characters of classical history, among them Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, Sappho and Hannibal. Challenging the notion that classical history is all about depraved emperors and conquering military heroes, Beard also introduces us to the common people--the slaves, soldiers, and women. How did they live? What made them laugh? What were their marriages like? This bottom-up approach to history is typical of Beard, who looks with fresh eyes at both scholarly controversies and popular interpretations of the ancient world, taking aim at many of the assumptions we held as gospel.--From publisher description. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
Debats actualsCapCobertes populars
Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)930History and Geography Ancient World Ancient HistoryLCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
Ets tu?Fes-te Autor del LibraryThing. |
Not for the faint of heart, this is dense literary review. I haven't read many of the original sources (and none in the original languages), but reading this makes me want to.
pg. 35. Another mistranslation of Thucydides - "words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them" - is often taken as a precursor to Orwell's Newspeak (a la 1984). However, a more accurate translation is here given to be "they exchanged their usual verbal evaluations of actions for new ones, in the light of what they thought justified." Meaning more along the lines of 'what was once called terrorism, is now called patriotism'. Which is much more common in modern times (especially if you reverse the two 'ism's...) ( )