scholarly journals The Good Poem According to Philodemus

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael McOsker
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Psychological Effect ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Of ◽  
Technical Terms

This book explains the poetics of Philodemus of Gadara, a first-century BCE Epicurean philosopher and poet, whose On Poems survives among the Herculaneum papyri. His main critical principle is that form and content are inseparable and mutually reinforcing: a change in one means a change in the other. The poet uses this marriage of form and content to create a hard-to-pin-down psychological effect in the audience. Poems produce “additional thoughts” in the audience, and these entertain them. It seems clear that Philodemus expected good poets to arrange form and content suggestively, so that the poems could exert a lasting pull on the minds of the audience. Additionally, the book summarizes the views of Philodemus’ opponents, the terminology of Hellenistic literary criticism, and the history of the Garden’s engagement with poetics. Epicurus did not write an On Poems but Metrodorus did, and this is probably Philodemus’ touchstone for his own views. The book concludes with an appendix of topics that Philodemus handles but which do not fit neatly into another chapter. I discuss his views on genre, mimesis, “appropriateness,” utility, and various technical terms.

scholarly journals Introduction: Postcolonial Reading Publics

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankhi Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
British India ◽  
Authorial Intention ◽  
Writing Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Given ◽  
Discursive Context

AbstractIn this introduction to the special issue, “Postcolonial Reading Publics,” Mukherjee charts the history of reception of two texts, one a Bengali novel published in British India, the other a Shakespeare adaptation staged in twenty-first-century Kolkata, to examine the fortuitous ways in which reading publics baffle or exceed authorial intention and the given text’s addressable objects. Offering summaries of and continuities among the four essays that constitute the volume, the introduction ends with an analysis of the salience of this discursive context for postcolonial writing, theory, and critique in a world literary frame.

scholarly journals HISTORICAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL IDEAS OF A.P. NECHAEV. PART 1: HISTORY OF LITERATURE, LITERARY CRITICISM, HISTORICAL PSYCHOLOGY

2021 ◽  
pp. 252-270
Author(s):  
А.А. Костригин
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
Artistic Creativity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Psychological Tasks ◽  
History Of Literature ◽  
The 19Th Century

Статья посвящена Александру Петровичу Нечаеву (1870-1948), выдающемуся отечественному психологу и педагогу первой половины XX в. В данной работе А.П. Нечаев показан как историк психологии. Рассматриваются историко-психологические работы и взгляды ученого по трем направлениям: анализ историко-литературных работ, в которых освещаются идеи, связанные с исторической психологией; анализ работ, освещавших состояние психологии на рубеже XIX-XX вв. и об отдельных персоналиях современной Нечаеву психологии; анализ специальных историко-психологических и историко-философских работ. В первой части представляются историко-литературные и литературно-критические работы: «Об отношении Крылова к науке» (1895) и «Поэзия А.Н. Майкова. Критический очерк» (1898). Отечественный психолог анализирует взгляды И.А. Крылова на ученых и научную деятельность, выраженных в художественных метафорах и отражавших общественные и народные представления о науке. Рассматривая творчество Майкова, Нечаев показывает, что поэзия может выполнять психологические задачи: с одной стороны, она влияет на эмоциональное состояние читателя и на развитие его личности, с другой - выражает внутренние особенности самого поэта, и необходима ему для удовлетворения собственных потребностей и стремлений. Несмотря на то, что напрямую эти работы не касаются проблематики истории психологии, они показывают интерес Нечаева к историко-научным исследованиям, а также могут быть отнесены к области исторической психологии, поскольку в них представлено изучение образов ученого и поэта и их психологические качества, характерные для XIX в., через художественное творчество и литературу. The article is dedicated to Aleksander Petrovich Nechaev (1870-1948), an outstanding Russian psychologist and teacher of the first half of the 20th century. In this work, Nechaev is presented as a historian of psychology. The historical-psychological views and works of the scientist in three directions are considered: analysis of historical and literary works in which ideas related to historical psychology are presented; analysis of works covering the state of psychology at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries and dedicated to Nechaev’s contemporaries in psychology; analysis of special historical-psychological and historical-philosophical works. The first part presents the historical-literary and literary-critical works of Nechaev: «On Krylov's attitude to science» (1895) and «Poetry of A.N. Maikov. A critical sketch» (1898). The Russian psychologist analyzes the views of I.A. Krylov on scientists and scientific activities, expressed in artistic metaphors and reflecting public and popular ideas about science. Considering the work of Maikov, Nechaev shows that poetry can perform psychological tasks: on the one hand, it affects the emotional state of the reader and the development of his personality, on the other hand, it expresses the inner characteristics of the poet himself, poetry is necessary for him to satisfy his own needs and intentions. Even though these works do not directly relate to the problems of history of psychology, they show the interest of Nechaev to historical-scientific research, and can also be attributed to the field of historical psychology: through artistic creativity and literature, the author studies the images of a scientist and a poet and their psychological traits specific to the 19th century.

The Indian Loom, Climate Change, and Democracy

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-240
Author(s):  
Uzramma
Keyword(s):  
Textile Industry ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Cotton Lint ◽  
The Past ◽  
Small Scales ◽  
History Of

Abstract Weaving on the handloom in India remains in the twenty-first century a large industry practiced by several million people, including, besides weavers themselves, others engaged in supporting activities. Indian hand weaving is a potentially viable ecological textile industry for the future, particularly if factors such as environmental damage and social costs are included in measuring viability. However, Indian hand weaving suffers from the perception that it is a relic of the past. Too, in the market it is undercut by cheaply made machine-produced cloth fraudulently sold as handmade. Research into the history of hand weaving revealed that there were two distinct modes of production, one in which expensive cloth was made for the elite, and another in which ordinary cloth was made for ordinary people. Since the making of expensive fabrics needed expensive raw materials, the weavers were dependent on an investor to supply these materials, creating a hierarchic dependency. The vernacular production of cloth, on the other hand, was democratic with lateral relations between the different stages of production. Malkha has simplified spinning by avoiding bale-pressing cotton lint, a technology introduced in colonial times to carry cotton long distances from the field. Malkha spinning centers are substantially smaller in size than conventional mills, closer to the small scales of Indian cotton farming and hand weaving.

The Digital Humanities, Inc.: Literary Criticism and the Fate of a Profession

PMLA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Kopec
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Digital Humanities ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Practice ◽  
New Formalism ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
New Critics ◽  
The One ◽  
Data Reading

The popularization of the digital humanities and the return to formalism are overdetermined by the perceived crises in the humanities. On the one hand, the new formalism harks back to a professionalizing strategy begun by the New Critics with John Crowe Ransom's “Criticism, Inc.,” drawing strength from close reading's original polemic against industrialism. On the other hand, the digital humanities reimagine professional labor in ways that seemingly approximate postindustrial norms. These contradictory but inextricably related visions of professional futures restage a conflict between literature and data, reading and making, that has been misrecognized as a conflict between literature and history. Approaching these tensions by way of historicist critique can illuminate the extent to which the debate between literature and data will define critical practice in the twenty-first century.

Islamic Charities and Islamic Humanism in Troubled Times

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Benthall
Keyword(s):  
Charitable Giving ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

This book is the fruit of twenty years’ reflection on Islamic charities, both in practical terms and as a key to understand the crisis in contemporary Islam. On the one hand Islam is undervalued as a global moral and political force whose admirable qualities are exemplified in its strong tradition of charitable giving. On the other hand, it suffers from a crisis of authority that cannot be blamed entirely on the history of colonialism and stigmatization to which Muslims have undoubtedly been subjected – most recently, as a result of the “war on terror”. The book consists of seventeen previously published chapters, with a general Introduction and new prefatory material for each chapter. The first nine chapters review the current situation of Islamic charities from many different viewpoints – theological, historical, diplomatic, legal, sociological and ethnographic – with first-hand data from the United States, Britain, Israel–Palestine, Mali and Indonesia. Chapters 10 to 17 expand the coverage to explore the potential for a twenty-first century “Islamic humanism” that would be devised by Muslims in the light of the human sciences and institutionalized throughout the Muslim world. This means addressing contentious topics such as religious toleration and the meaning of jihad. The intended readership includes academics and students at all levels, professionals concerned with aid and development, and all who have an interest in the future of Islam.

‘Grammaticus ludens’: Theological Aspects of Langland's Grammatical Allegory

Traditio ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 251-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel A. Overstreet
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Piers Plowman ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Detailed Explanation ◽  
Ugly Duckling ◽  
History Of ◽  
Technical Terms

The grammatical allegory of Piers Plowman C, Passus 3, has aptly been designated ‘the ugly duckling of the C revision.’ Since Skeat's day the passage has been described as ‘tedious and puerile,’ ‘irrelevant,’ ‘unintelligible and barren of all interest.’ More recently, John Alford's admirable article on the history of grammatical metaphor has situated the passage in a long literary tradition, and thus opened the way for an appreciation of its virtues, however strange they may seem to moderns. From the goliardic song to the sermon, from venality-satire to the Donatus moralizatus, authors throughout the Middle Ages built wordplays and metaphors, sometimes extended ones, on the technical terms of Latin grammar. For the medieval preacher, various kinds of pride go before a casus, or fall: pride of name (nominative), pride of descent (genitive), pride of wealth and munificence (dative), and so on; for the goliard, one becomes genitivus as a result of too much bedroom conjugation For Langland's grammatical allegory, though, critics have had less success explaining the use of grammatical terms and doctrines. Alford gives a brief five-page treatment to the passage, focusing mainly on the analogy between grammatical rules and the rule of law; although he aptly notes the punning use of terms such as ‘kynde’ for the Incarnation and ‘case’ for a legal suit, he does not address the use of ‘relacion rect and indirect’ or ‘adiectyf and sustantyf’ around which the passage is built. On the other hand, the article which gives the most detailed explanation of Langland's grammatical doctrines still has trouble relating them to the exempla of husband and wife, master and laborer, and son and servant, and even to the key notions of meed and mercede, confessing in places that ‘Conscience's precise intentions must remain a mystery.’

Great projects and crude realities

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Ángel Giménez Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Universal Schooling

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the circumstances that have conditioned the development of education in Spain from the enlightenment to the present day. Design/methodology/approach – Multidisciplinary scientific approach that combines the interpretation of the legal texts with the revision of the doctrinal and theoretical contributions made on the issue. Findings – From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the history of education in Spain has been marked by constant fluctuations between the reactionary instincts, principally maintained by the Catholic Church and the conservative social classes, and the progressive experiments, driven by the enlightened and the liberals first, and the republicans and the socialists later. As a consequence of that, the fight for finishing with illiteracy and guaranteeing universal schooling underwent permanent advances and retreats, preventing from an effective modernization of the Spanish educative system. On the one hand, renewal projects promoted by teachers and pedagogues were inevitably criticized by the ecclesiastical hierarchy, obsessed with the idea of preserving the influence of religion on the schools. On the other hand, successive governments were weak in implementing an educational policy which could place Spain at the level of the other European and occidental nations. Originality/value – At the dawn of the twenty-first century, although the country has overcome a good part of its centuries-old backwardness, increasing economic difficulties and old ideological splits keep hampering the quality of teaching, gripped by neoliberal policies which undermine the right to education for all. The reading of this paper offers various historical clues to understand this process.

scholarly journals BAKHTIN AND RENE GIRARD ON DOSTOEVSKY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

2021 ◽  
pp. 42-51
Author(s):  
Kirill Rodin
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Rene Girard ◽  
Critical Comparison ◽  
René Girard ◽  
Literary Heritage ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Literature

The article provides a critical comparison of two independent interpretations of F. M. Dostoevsky: from the side of M. Bakhtin and from the side of Rene Girard. Both authors have created coherent ways of understanding and reading the literary heritage of the writer in the perspective of their own understanding of the history of literature and the intellectual history of mankind as such. Dostoevsky is significant for Bakhtin not simply as an illustration of the applicability of some of his own ideas within the framework of literary criticism. Bakhtin sees Dostoevsky as an innovator in the development of the menippea genre and an unprecedented dialogization of literature. At the same time, without Dostoevsky, the movement of literature postulated by Girard towards the embodiment of the Gospel revelation would be incomplete. The incompleteness of Girard or Bakhtin without Dostoevsky (with all the reservations) is not fundamental. Without Dostoevsky, history as such fundamentally changes for Girard and for Bakhtin. The apparent incomparability of the authors makes it possible to read Dostoevsky differently. From the context of Girard, the meaning of Bakhtin's works and, inevitably, the meaning of laughter and dialogue (polyphony) in history are significantly transformed. On the other hand, the ways of including Dostoevsky in the image of history created by Girard, independently of Bakhtin, also run into difficulties.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Dustin D. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
John Milton ◽  
Paradise Lost ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
De Doctrina Christiana ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Late Twentieth

The introductory chapter elaborates definitions of two opposed but entangled poetic tendencies, calling one mortalist and the other spiritualist. It draws extended examples from John Milton (particularly from Paradise Lost [1667] and De Doctrina Christiana); from Edward Young (especially from Night Thoughts [1742–6], identified as the poem central to the study); and from several late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century Anglophone poets, including Lucie Brock-Broido, Michael Symmons Roberts, Danez Smith, Tracy K. Smith, and Kevin Young. Some of these writers, the chapter argues, surprisingly keep alive a poetics of disembodiment derived from the Enlightenment. The introduction ends with a discussion of some relevant questions in literary criticism (concerning materialism, Pre-Romanticism, historical poetics, and lyric studies) and then a personal word about the author’s perspective on the spiritualities explored in the book.

Larinum in Cicero’s Pro Cluentio

2021 ◽  
pp. 111-133
Author(s):  
Elizabeth C. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Road Networks ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social War ◽  
The Town

This chapter analyzes the social history that can be gleaned from a close reading of Cicero’s Pro Cluentio. After presenting the case against Cluentius, it discusses the chief elements of the social history of Larinum that appear in the oration. These include intermarriage between the domi nobiles of the town, links between Larinum and other Italian communities, links with Rome, travel and road networks, the effects of the Social War, and the patronage and wealth of the domi nobiles. Although Cicero’s speech is a work of rhetoric, the historical details that he includes can be considered largely accurate. This information cannot be obtained from any other source. The Pro Cluentio provides information about the leading families of the town that complements the prosopographical information found in the epigraphic record. When combined with the other evidence discussed in the rest of the book, it shows the ways that the citizens of Larinum were interacting with Rome and the effects of the town’s transition into the Roman state that could be seen in the middle of the first century bce.

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