Latin Literature: A History

by Gian Biagio Conte, Joseph Solodow (Translator), Don P. Fowler (Revised by), Glen W. Most (Revised by)

Overview

The authoriatative history of Latin literature.

This authoritative history of Latin literature offers a comprehensive survey of the thousand-year period from the origins of Latin as a written language to the early Middle Ages. At once a reference work, a bibliographic guide, a literary study, and a reader's handbook, Latin Literature: A History is the first work of its kind to appear in English in nearly four decades. From the first examples of written Latin through Gregory of Tours in the sixth century and the Venerable Bede in the seventh, Latin Literature offers a wide-ranging panorama of all major Latin authors. Including names, dates, edition citations, and detailed summaries, the work combines the virtues of an encyclopedia with the critical intelligence readers have come to expect from Italy's leading Latinist, Gian Biagio Conte.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801862533
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	11/19/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	864
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.47(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gian Biagio Conte is a professor of Latin literature in the Department of Classical Philology at the University of Pisa, Italy.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Literary History and Historiography
Part 1: The Early and Middle Republics
Part 2: The Late Republic
Part 3: The Age of Augustus
Part 4: The Early Empire
Part 5: The Late Empire
Appendixes
Index of names

Editorial Reviews

Conte gives the sort of biographical and historical information that might be expected in a book of this type, but with a more sophisticated awareness of the fragility of much of it than one finds in many other text books. He also gives an unfailingly intelligent and interesting account of the works themselves . . . His mastery of the vast range of literature that he covers is remarkable.
—Jasper Griffin, New York Review of Books

It will quickly become not only the preferred textbook but the standard resource for mainstream evaluations of the major surviving Latin authors through the early Middle Ages . . . Conte covers this era by discussing the principle writers in Latin with a remarkably concise thoroughness.
—Reader's Review

Conte has achieved a monumental feat most scholars would shrink from attempting . . . [With] its relish for forgotten or underrated authors and its tight focus on cultural significance, his history shows the restlessness many late 20th-century Latinists feel with the state of their subject.
—Emily Gowers, London Review of Books

From the Publisher

Conte gives the sort of biographical and historical information that might be expected in a book of this type, but with a more sophisticated awareness of the fragility of much of it than one finds in many other text books. He also gives an unfailingly intelligent and interesting account of the works themselves . . . His mastery of the vast range of literature that he covers is remarkable.

New York Review of Books - Jasper Griffin

It will quickly become not only the preferred textbook but the standard resource for mainstream evaluations of the major surviving Latin authors through the early Middle Ages . . . Conte covers this era by discussing the principle writers in Latin with a remarkably concise thoroughness.

Reader's Review

Conte has achieved a monumental feat most scholars would shrink from attempting . . . [With] its relish for forgotten or underrated authors and its tight focus on cultural significance, his history shows the restlessness many late 20th-century Latinists feel with the state of their subject.

London Review of Books - Emily Gowers

Conte has achieved a monumental feat most scholars would shrink from attempting... [With] its relish for forgotten or underrated authors and its tight focus on cultural significance, his history shows the restlessness many late 20th-century Latinists feel with the state of their subject.

— Emily Gowers

London Review of Books

Conte gives the sort of biographical and historical information that might be expected in a book of this type, but with a more sophisticated awareness of the fragility of much of it than one finds in many other text books. He also gives an unfailingly intelligent and interesting account of the works themselves... His mastery of the vast range of literature that he covers is remarkable.

— Jasper Griffin

New York Review of Books

A great book that bears no comparison to the fragmented and frequently impoverished alphabetical references so commonly (and increasingly) seen. This authoritative history of Latin literature--a revised translation of the original Italian-language edition of 1987--offers a comprehensive survey of the thousand-year period from the origins of Latin as a written language to the early Middle Ages (i.e., through the Venerable Bede in the seventh century), providing a wide-ranging panorama of all major Latin authors. Including names, dates, edition citations, and detailed summaries, the work combines the concision and ease of use of a standard reference with the critical intelligence of Conte, Italy's leading Latinist. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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