Pornography And Representation in Greece And Rome - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195067223 ISBN 13: 9780195067224

Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr, 1992

Synopsis

Can the pornographic be said to have existed in Greece and Rome? This new group of essays points to some striking similarities between our culture and those of the ancient world, challenging Foucauldian assumptions about the nature of sexuality. Covering such topics as vase painting, tragic and comic drama from fifth-century Athens, Hellenistic philosophy and sex manuals, Roman history, poetry, wall-painting, representations of gladiatorial combat, and romance novels, the contributors approach sexuality from both sides of the feminist pornography debate, including the use of film theory. A path-breaking application of feminist theory to the study of Greek and Roman cultures, this book offers new insight into the notion of sexuality in the ancient world.

About this title

Review:

This is a very good collection indeed. It includes a variety of approaches to pornography, covers a wide range of materials from painting and mosaics to tragedy and the ancient novel, gives attention to presentations both of sex and of violence, as well as to the intersection of the two domains, and shows considerable sophistication in modern theories of pornography and the oppression of womnen. Some of the ground covered is quite fresh (e.g. the attention given to Athenaeus or to the ancient sex manuals), and more familiar works are freshly interpreted...As a set, the papers make a substantial contribution to classical studies, bringing to bear a complex feminist perspective in an informed, clear, compelling way. This is very much needed, and should haveconsiderable appeal to classicists, feminist critics and students, and to anyone interested in antiquity and sexuality. (David Konstan, Professor of Classics, Brown University)

Richlin's introduction to the volume questions several of our standard tactics in reading the classical canon of texts ... in the context of mainstream classical scholarship, it amounts to a new agenda and a demand for a new set of reading practices ... a brilliant new reading of one of the most neglected texts of ancient literature; here, to continue Athenaeus' metaphor, is the proof of the pudding. (Times Literary Supplement)

About the Author:

Amy Richlin is at University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0195067223
• ISBN 13: 9780195067224
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Richlin Amy