Secret of the Muses Retold – Classical Influences on Italian Authors of the Twentieth Century - Softcover

Kirby, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226437485 ISBN 13: 9780226437484

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2001

Synopsis

Precious repositories of ancient wisdom? Musty relics of outmoded culture? Timeless paragons of artistic achievement? Hegemonic tools of intellectual repression? Just what are the classics, anyway, and why do (or should) we still pay so much attention to them? What is the literary canon? What is myth, and how do we use it? These are some of the questions that gave rise to John Kirby's "Secret of the Muses Retold". This new study of works by five 20th-century Italian writers investigates the abiding influence of the Greek and Roman classics, and their rich legacy in our own day. The result is not only a splendid introduction to contemporary Italian literature, but also a lucid and stimulating meditation on the insights that writers such as Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino have tapped from the wellspring of ancient tradition. Kirby's book offers an impassioned plea for the recuperations of the humanities in general, and of classical studies in particular. No expertise in Greek, Latin, Italian or literary theory is presumed, and both traditional and postmodern perspectives are accommodated.

About this title

About the Author

John T. Kirby is a professor of classics and comparative literature at Purdue University. His other books include The Rhetoric of Cicero's Pro Cluentio, The Comparative Reader: A Handlist of Basic Reading in Comparative Literature, and World Eras: Classical Greek Civilization, 800-323 B.C.E.

From the Back Cover

Precious repositories of ancient wisdom? Musty relics of outmoded culture? Timeless paragons of artistic achievement? Hegemonic tools of intellectual repression? Just what are the classics, anyway, and why do or should we still pay so much attention to them? What is the literary canon? What is myth, and how do we use it?

These are just some of the questions addressed in John Kirby's Secret of the Muses Retold. This study of works by five twentieth-century Italian writers investigates the abiding influence of the Greek and Roman classics, and their rich legacy in our own day. The result is not only a splendid introduction to contemporary Italian literature, but also a stimulating meditation on the insights that writers such as Umberto Eco, Roberto Calasso, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italo Calvino, and Joseph Tusiani have tapped from the wellspring of ancient tradition.

From the Inside Flap

Precious repositories of ancient wisdom? Musty relics of outmoded culture? Timeless paragons of artistic achievement? Hegemonic tools of intellectual repression? Just what are the classics, anyway, and why do or should we still pay so much attention to them? What is the literary canon? What is myth, and how do we use it?

These are just some of the questions addressed in John Kirby's Secret of the Muses Retold. This study of works by five twentieth-century Italian writers investigates the abiding influence of the Greek and Roman classics, and their rich legacy in our own day. The result is not only a splendid introduction to contemporary Italian literature, but also a stimulating meditation on the insights that writers such as Umberto Eco, Roberto Calasso, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italo Calvino, and Joseph Tusiani have tapped from the wellspring of ancient tradition.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226437485
• ISBN 13: 9780226437484
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 186