Beyond Greek: The Beginnings of Latin Literature

by Denis Feeney

Overview

A History Today Best Book of the Year
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Horace, and other authors of ancient Rome are so firmly established in the Western canon today that the birth of Latin literature seems inevitable. Yet, Denis Feeney boldly argues, the beginnings of Latin literature were anything but inevitable. The cultural flourishing that in time produced the Aeneid, the Metamorphoses, and other Latin classics was one of the strangest events in history.

“Feeney is to be congratulated on his willingness to put Roman literary history in a big comparative context…It is a powerful testimony to the importance of Denis Feeney’s work that the old chestnuts of classical literary history—how the Romans got themselves Hellenized, and whether those jack-booted thugs felt anxiously belated or smugly domineering in their appropriation of Greek culture for their own purposes—feel fresh and urgent again.”
—Emily Wilson, Times Literary Supplement

“[Feeney’s] bold theme and vigorous writing render Beyond Greek of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and literature of the classical world.”
—The Economist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674496040
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Denis Feeney is Giger Professor of Latin, Emeritus, at Princeton University.

Table of Contents

Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Introduction The Contingency of Latin Literature Engaging with “Hellenization” Before and After 240 The Strangeness of Translation The Case of Ptolemaic Alexandria Two Ptolemaic “Exceptions” The Variability of Translation into Greek Ranges of Possibilities Translating Is Not Interpreting What Does Not Get Translated Not the “Faithful Interpreter” The Bilingual Classroom The Originality of Translation Sameness and Difference Inside the Intercultural Space L1 and L2 A Literary Language for Rome “UP” and “DOWN” A Bilingual Governing Élite Chapter 4. Middle Grounds, Zones of Contact Greek Drama, from Magna Graecia to Central Italy The New Ludi Scaenici of 364 On the Roman Stage, 364–241 A New Kind of Fidelity From Koinē to Imperium Accessing the Canon The Sicilian Connection An International Festival Swimming with, and against, the Mainstream of Hellenism Acting Greek The Games of Anicius: A Road Not Taken? Spectacles in International Dialogue Chapter 6. A Literature in the Latin Language What Does It Mean to Speak of “Latin Literature”? Writing within the Frameworks of Hellenistic Literary Culture The Development of a Second-Order Institution of Criticism A Roman Literary Tradition Remakes, Sequels, and New Departures Beyond the Translation Project Audiences New Horizons The New Professionals Texts in Circulation An Empire of Writing Chapter 8. Acts of Comparison Comparative Cases of Other Vernacular Literatures Across the Watershed Comparing Greek and Roman Song Cultures A Comparison Test-Case: Greek and Roman Songs for the Gods Elaboration of Cultic Song: A Carmen for Juno Inventing Vernacular Literatures Conclusion: Joining the Network Webs of History and Myth The New Systematization A Roman Dimension to the System Notes References Index

Editorial Reviews

By putting Roman literature into a global context, Denis Feeney shows that the Romans, far from being cultural imitators, were actually the innovators of a new form of cultural transmission. This is the study of world literature at its finest.

Martin Puchner

[Feeney’s] bold theme and vigorous writing render Beyond Greek of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and literature of the classical world.

The Economist

Feeney is to be congratulated on his willingness to put Roman literary history in a big comparative context… It is a powerful testimony to the importance of Denis Feeney’s work that the old chestnuts of classical literary history—how the Romans got themselves Hellenized, and whether those jack-booted thugs felt anxiously belated or smugly domineering in their appropriation of Greek culture for their own purposes—feel fresh and urgent again.

Times Literary Supplement - Emily Wilson

Beyond Greek is a string of revelations about how the Romans busied themselves building a new literature for their new position on the world stage. It takes all the familiar characterizations of ancient Roman literature—as parvenu, as derivative, as a series of ham-handed imitations of a superior culture—and turns them inside-out in some wonderfully thoughtful ways.

Open Letters Monthly - Steve Donoghue

Formidably learned, but at the same time an exceptionally good read…Feeney shows mid-third century BC Romans undertaking a deliberate project of refashioning their world within international cultural networks. In so doing, he illustrates the value of cultural openness and multilingualism and the role of ‘cultural brokers.’ Committed supporters of an international outlook will find much of relevance here.

History Today - Christopher Smith

A magisterial and innovative study of the beginnings of Latin literature. It is sure to get noticed, to provoke, and to rankle. It will be the standard, go-to book on the topic for many years to come. Feeney does not hold back.

Kirk Freudenburg

Manages to make strange an entire narrative of Western literature. It takes an origin myth accepted as logical, ‘the creation of a Roman literature on Greek models,’ and through its patient, stylish, precise investigation demonstrates how in fact this was ‘one of the strangest and most unlikely events in Mediterranean history,’ a phenomenon of pure contingency.

Times Literary Supplement - Adam Thirlwell

A magisterial and innovative study of the beginnings of Latin literature. It is sure to get noticed, to provoke, and to rankle. It will be the standard, go-to book on the topic for many years to come. Feeney does not hold back.
— Kirk Freudenburg, Yale University

By putting Roman literature into a global context, Denis Feeney shows that the Romans, far from being cultural imitators, were actually the innovators of a new form of cultural transmission. This is the study of world literature at its finest.
— Martin Puchner, Harvard University

Beyond Greek is a string of revelations about how the Romans busied themselves building a new literature for their new position on the world stage. It takes all the familiar characterizations of ancient Roman literature—as parvenu, as derivative, as a series of ham-handed imitations of a superior culture—and turns them inside-out in some wonderfully thoughtful ways.
— Steve Donoghue Open Letters Monthly

[Feeney’s] bold theme and vigorous writing render Beyond Greek of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and literature of the classical world.
— The Economist

Feeney is to be congratulated on his willingness to put Roman literary history in a big comparative context… It is a powerful testimony to the importance of Denis Feeney’s work that the old chestnuts of classical literary history—how the Romans got themselves Hellenized, and whether those jack-booted thugs felt anxiously belated or smugly domineering in their appropriation of Greek culture for their own purposes—feel fresh and urgent again.
— Emily Wilson Times Literary Supplement

Manages to make strange an entire narrative of Western literature. It takes an origin myth accepted as logical, ‘the creation of a Roman literature on Greek models,’ and through its patient, stylish, precise investigation demonstrates how in fact this was ‘one of the strangest and most unlikely events in Mediterranean history,’ a phenomenon of pure contingency.
— Adam Thirlwell Times Literary Supplement

Formidably learned, but at the same time an exceptionally good read…Feeney shows mid-third century BC Romans undertaking a deliberate project of refashioning their world within international cultural networks. In so doing, he illustrates the value of cultural openness and multilingualism and the role of ‘cultural brokers.’ Committed supporters of an international outlook will find much of relevance here.
— Christopher Smith History Today

From the Publisher