Classical Indiscretions: A Millennial Enquiry into the Status of the Classics

Maurizio Bettini argues that oral culture, because it does not have an inexhaustible memory at its disposal, tends to preserve its cultural inheritance. But written culture forgets nothing: but when everything can be recalled or somehow retrieved, the problem becomes what to remember and what to consign to oblivion.

This provocative book, written with a light touch, rooted in the Classics but ranging over the whole of Western literary culture, addresses many of the major issues that face us...