Emily Baragwanath
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231294
- eISBN:
- 9780191710797
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231294.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This ...
More
Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This book examines the representation of human motivation in Herodotus' Histories, building on recent work that views the historian against the background of the sophists and exploring the implications of this for the Histories' narrative books. Working from the theoretical basis of reader response criticism, it uses Plutarch's insights to plot Herodotus' narrative strategies for guiding his readers' response to questions of motives. Its focus is the sophisticated narrative techniques with which Herodotus represents this elusive variety of historical knowledge; but through illustrating and analyzing a range of such techniques across a wide selection of narratives, it supplies a method for reading the Histories more generally. Herodotus is revealed as a master of both narrative and historiography, able tell a lucid story of the past while nonetheless exposing the methodological and epistemological challenges it presented. Subjects discussed include the influence of Homer as a narrative model; the account of Leonidas and Thermopylae—where the subtle interweaving of heroic and more pragmatic motivations contribute to the historian's self-characterization; the Samian and Persian stories, with their depiction of irrational motivation; the Athenian stories, which reveal Herodotus' polarizing technique of presentation; the complications of rhetoric, with its slogans of ‘freedom’ and ‘Greek unity’, in the Ionian Revolt narrative—which proves a touchstone for assessing the later campaign; motives and necessity in the Greek states' response to the Persian threat; and the characterization of the Histories' most prominent individuals, Xerxes and Themistocles.Less
Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This book examines the representation of human motivation in Herodotus' Histories, building on recent work that views the historian against the background of the sophists and exploring the implications of this for the Histories' narrative books. Working from the theoretical basis of reader response criticism, it uses Plutarch's insights to plot Herodotus' narrative strategies for guiding his readers' response to questions of motives. Its focus is the sophisticated narrative techniques with which Herodotus represents this elusive variety of historical knowledge; but through illustrating and analyzing a range of such techniques across a wide selection of narratives, it supplies a method for reading the Histories more generally. Herodotus is revealed as a master of both narrative and historiography, able tell a lucid story of the past while nonetheless exposing the methodological and epistemological challenges it presented. Subjects discussed include the influence of Homer as a narrative model; the account of Leonidas and Thermopylae—where the subtle interweaving of heroic and more pragmatic motivations contribute to the historian's self-characterization; the Samian and Persian stories, with their depiction of irrational motivation; the Athenian stories, which reveal Herodotus' polarizing technique of presentation; the complications of rhetoric, with its slogans of ‘freedom’ and ‘Greek unity’, in the Ionian Revolt narrative—which proves a touchstone for assessing the later campaign; motives and necessity in the Greek states' response to the Persian threat; and the characterization of the Histories' most prominent individuals, Xerxes and Themistocles.
Simon Hornblower
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199249190
- eISBN:
- 9780191719424
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199249190.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines Thucydides' narrative technique, especially that in the Sicilian books 6 and 7. It argues that the Sicilian books are a depiction of an agōn or struggle of the kind celebrated ...
More
This chapter examines Thucydides' narrative technique, especially that in the Sicilian books 6 and 7. It argues that the Sicilian books are a depiction of an agōn or struggle of the kind celebrated by Pindar. They represent a monograph within a history, a monograph which uses athletic language and concepts — the language and thought of Pindar — to describe a war within a war.Less
This chapter examines Thucydides' narrative technique, especially that in the Sicilian books 6 and 7. It argues that the Sicilian books are a depiction of an agōn or struggle of the kind celebrated by Pindar. They represent a monograph within a history, a monograph which uses athletic language and concepts — the language and thought of Pindar — to describe a war within a war.
Jakob Lothe
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122555
- eISBN:
- 9780191671463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122555.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism, European Literature
This book investigates the narrative method in the fiction of Joseph Conrad. Its primary focus is on this method's devices, functions, variations, and thematic effects or implications. Narrative ...
More
This book investigates the narrative method in the fiction of Joseph Conrad. Its primary focus is on this method's devices, functions, variations, and thematic effects or implications. Narrative method is here seen as an integral aspect of textual structure, but the study is not narrowly or exclusively structuralist as it is concerned with the complicated, and partly reciprocal, relationship in Conrad's fiction between narrative method and the complex thematic style shaped thorough diverse length. The chapter attempts to identify and evaluate the narrative techniques of texts, and on this basis suggests narrative and thematic generalizations about them.Less
This book investigates the narrative method in the fiction of Joseph Conrad. Its primary focus is on this method's devices, functions, variations, and thematic effects or implications. Narrative method is here seen as an integral aspect of textual structure, but the study is not narrowly or exclusively structuralist as it is concerned with the complicated, and partly reciprocal, relationship in Conrad's fiction between narrative method and the complex thematic style shaped thorough diverse length. The chapter attempts to identify and evaluate the narrative techniques of texts, and on this basis suggests narrative and thematic generalizations about them.
Christina Shuttleworth Kraus
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199262120
- eISBN:
- 9780191718533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter focuses on 1st-century CE Roman historical narrative, with a view to understanding to what extent Josephus may have been influenced by such writing. It is argued that works such as ...
More
This chapter focuses on 1st-century CE Roman historical narrative, with a view to understanding to what extent Josephus may have been influenced by such writing. It is argued that works such as Valerius Maximus’ Memorable Words and Deeds, Tacitus’ Annales, and Frontinus’ Strategemata all displayed a similar tendency towards the use of exemplarity (exempla) as a principal technique of understanding the past. The increasing emphasis on ‘great figures’ by 1st-century Roman historians, a phenomenon catalyzed by and pulled towards the figure of the Emperor, was a literary tactic which underlined individuals as unique actors in history. It also, however, portrayed individuals’ actions and behaviours as relatively fixed paradigms, to be imitated or eschewed by posterity. This chapter maintains that this technique of exemplarity is to be seen as inextricably linked with the increasing influence of biography on Roman historical writing, sometimes, as in the case of Tertullian’s and Jerome’s references to Tacitus’ work, actually becoming conflated with it.Less
This chapter focuses on 1st-century CE Roman historical narrative, with a view to understanding to what extent Josephus may have been influenced by such writing. It is argued that works such as Valerius Maximus’ Memorable Words and Deeds, Tacitus’ Annales, and Frontinus’ Strategemata all displayed a similar tendency towards the use of exemplarity (exempla) as a principal technique of understanding the past. The increasing emphasis on ‘great figures’ by 1st-century Roman historians, a phenomenon catalyzed by and pulled towards the figure of the Emperor, was a literary tactic which underlined individuals as unique actors in history. It also, however, portrayed individuals’ actions and behaviours as relatively fixed paradigms, to be imitated or eschewed by posterity. This chapter maintains that this technique of exemplarity is to be seen as inextricably linked with the increasing influence of biography on Roman historical writing, sometimes, as in the case of Tertullian’s and Jerome’s references to Tacitus’ work, actually becoming conflated with it.
Gian Biagio Conte and S. J. Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199287017
- eISBN:
- 9780191713262
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287017.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter discusses Aristaeus, Orpheus, and the Georgics. Reacting favourably to Jasper Griffin's justly influential article on Georgics 4, it agrees that readers need an interpretation that can ...
More
This chapter discusses Aristaeus, Orpheus, and the Georgics. Reacting favourably to Jasper Griffin's justly influential article on Georgics 4, it agrees that readers need an interpretation that can encompass the whole of the Georgics and show its essential unity. The chapter also reinforces the crucial original perception that Aristaeus is an extrapolation on the mythical level of the farmer of the Georgics and makes the equally convincing argument that the Aristaeus story consciously echoes the myths of Platonic dialogues in enacting on the mythical level and in final climactic position the essential message of the didactic work. Centrally important too is the analysis of the Alexandrian narrative technique of the Aristaeus-episode, arguing incontrovertibly that the juxtaposition of two structurally similar but crucially different stories is a key part of interpretation, just as it is in Catullus 64.Less
This chapter discusses Aristaeus, Orpheus, and the Georgics. Reacting favourably to Jasper Griffin's justly influential article on Georgics 4, it agrees that readers need an interpretation that can encompass the whole of the Georgics and show its essential unity. The chapter also reinforces the crucial original perception that Aristaeus is an extrapolation on the mythical level of the farmer of the Georgics and makes the equally convincing argument that the Aristaeus story consciously echoes the myths of Platonic dialogues in enacting on the mythical level and in final climactic position the essential message of the didactic work. Centrally important too is the analysis of the Alexandrian narrative technique of the Aristaeus-episode, arguing incontrovertibly that the juxtaposition of two structurally similar but crucially different stories is a key part of interpretation, just as it is in Catullus 64.
JOHN J. RICHETTI
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112631
- eISBN:
- 9780191670824
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112631.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter discusses the novel as a miscellany, as it contains the digressions, songs, poems, and interpolated stories traditional to narrative. There were a number of novels in the eighteenth ...
More
This chapter discusses the novel as a miscellany, as it contains the digressions, songs, poems, and interpolated stories traditional to narrative. There were a number of novels in the eighteenth century that possessed a mixture of narrative techniques and fictional paradigms, and these are discussed in detail.Less
This chapter discusses the novel as a miscellany, as it contains the digressions, songs, poems, and interpolated stories traditional to narrative. There were a number of novels in the eighteenth century that possessed a mixture of narrative techniques and fictional paradigms, and these are discussed in detail.
Jesse Rosenthal
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691196640
- eISBN:
- 9781400883738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691196640.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter looks at another narrative mechanism that an author could use to imply that there was a “law” governing the text: humor. This is not, as the chapter shows through a discussion of ...
More
This chapter looks at another narrative mechanism that an author could use to imply that there was a “law” governing the text: humor. This is not, as the chapter shows through a discussion of Romantic and Victorian writings on the subject, a humor that was defined by its ability to make a reader laugh. Rather, humor was a strategy used to produce, in the reader, the experience of unspoken agreement and shared community with others. Unlike Oliver Twist, David Copperfield does not rely on an inaccessible back-story. Instead, it relies on a shared understanding, but one so implicit that it seems to be more of an intuitive sense than any sort of rational knowledge. It relies, in other words, on the idea of sensus communis (common sense). The narrative of David's progression is always measured against this backdrop of an anonymously judging public of which he is part, and the novel's narrative method seeks to move him into agreement with that public. The novel thus uses humor to underscore the idea that one's individual intuitions are shared, though in ways that are difficult to conceptualize. Charles Dickens's narrative technique makes use of an externalization, into the social sphere, of a reader's individual feeling.Less
This chapter looks at another narrative mechanism that an author could use to imply that there was a “law” governing the text: humor. This is not, as the chapter shows through a discussion of Romantic and Victorian writings on the subject, a humor that was defined by its ability to make a reader laugh. Rather, humor was a strategy used to produce, in the reader, the experience of unspoken agreement and shared community with others. Unlike Oliver Twist, David Copperfield does not rely on an inaccessible back-story. Instead, it relies on a shared understanding, but one so implicit that it seems to be more of an intuitive sense than any sort of rational knowledge. It relies, in other words, on the idea of sensus communis (common sense). The narrative of David's progression is always measured against this backdrop of an anonymously judging public of which he is part, and the novel's narrative method seeks to move him into agreement with that public. The novel thus uses humor to underscore the idea that one's individual intuitions are shared, though in ways that are difficult to conceptualize. Charles Dickens's narrative technique makes use of an externalization, into the social sphere, of a reader's individual feeling.
Kathryn Hume
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801450013
- eISBN:
- 9780801462870
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801450013.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This chapter maps the ways that narrative speed functions, focusing specifically on a sense of a narrative accelerating beyond some safe “comprehension-limit.” In short, the chapter seeks to identify ...
More
This chapter maps the ways that narrative speed functions, focusing specifically on a sense of a narrative accelerating beyond some safe “comprehension-limit.” In short, the chapter seeks to identify the main techniques that produce this effect and to study the evident authorial goals fostered by such narrative rapidity. It thus begins by discussing three techniques for producing the effect of narrative speed: multiplying elements, subtracting expected material, and rendering actions fantastic. After discussing technique, the chapter considers the kind of effect encouraged by speed: satire, mystery, protest, exaltation, revolution. In addition to seeing how narrative speed is generated, the chapter also looks at the politics of narrative speed and the implications of this.Less
This chapter maps the ways that narrative speed functions, focusing specifically on a sense of a narrative accelerating beyond some safe “comprehension-limit.” In short, the chapter seeks to identify the main techniques that produce this effect and to study the evident authorial goals fostered by such narrative rapidity. It thus begins by discussing three techniques for producing the effect of narrative speed: multiplying elements, subtracting expected material, and rendering actions fantastic. After discussing technique, the chapter considers the kind of effect encouraged by speed: satire, mystery, protest, exaltation, revolution. In addition to seeing how narrative speed is generated, the chapter also looks at the politics of narrative speed and the implications of this.
Anna Wierzbicka
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137330
- eISBN:
- 9780199867905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137337.003.0022
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Chapter 22 is devoted to another pair of twin parables that convey the same message by means of two different stories. This message focuses on the need for people to trust that God can, wants to and ...
More
Chapter 22 is devoted to another pair of twin parables that convey the same message by means of two different stories. This message focuses on the need for people to trust that God can, wants to and will do good things for people – the need to pray continually and not to get discouraged – not to ever think things like “God doesn’t want to do good things for me” or “God will not do good things for me.” Like the two previous ones, this chapter, too, discusses Jesus’ narrative technique of comparing God to morally dubious characters, and it seeks to clarify Jesus’ teaching on prayer, trust, and dependence on God by means of simple and universal human concepts.Less
Chapter 22 is devoted to another pair of twin parables that convey the same message by means of two different stories. This message focuses on the need for people to trust that God can, wants to and will do good things for people – the need to pray continually and not to get discouraged – not to ever think things like “God doesn’t want to do good things for me” or “God will not do good things for me.” Like the two previous ones, this chapter, too, discusses Jesus’ narrative technique of comparing God to morally dubious characters, and it seeks to clarify Jesus’ teaching on prayer, trust, and dependence on God by means of simple and universal human concepts.
ANDREA HOPKINS
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117629
- eISBN:
- 9780191671029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117629.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter discusses the last poem to be included in this book, Roberd of Cisyle, which has a number of striking features of the penitent sinner archetype found in Guy of Warwick and Sir Ysumbras. ...
More
This chapter discusses the last poem to be included in this book, Roberd of Cisyle, which has a number of striking features of the penitent sinner archetype found in Guy of Warwick and Sir Ysumbras. Compared to the other poems in this book, however, it stands at the borderline of romance. One important feature of the poem is that it uses a narrative technique which presents it in a straightforward manner.Less
This chapter discusses the last poem to be included in this book, Roberd of Cisyle, which has a number of striking features of the penitent sinner archetype found in Guy of Warwick and Sir Ysumbras. Compared to the other poems in this book, however, it stands at the borderline of romance. One important feature of the poem is that it uses a narrative technique which presents it in a straightforward manner.
Catherine Zimmer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479864379
- eISBN:
- 9781479876853
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479864379.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
The book’s introduction provides a historical overview of the intersections of cinema and surveillance and of the theoretical treatment of surveillance in film. Through analysis of the shared ...
More
The book’s introduction provides a historical overview of the intersections of cinema and surveillance and of the theoretical treatment of surveillance in film. Through analysis of the shared technological histories of surveillance and film, as well as exemplary instances of early cinema, it shows the close relationship between the development of narrative technique in film and surveillance practice, arguing that both are deeply implicated in forming racial visibility, and thus that surveillance and cinema are racial projects. This introduction also suggests that such an analysis of surveillance in cinema has been constrained in part by overreliance on the conceptual framework of “voyeurism” and argues that voyeurism must itself be understood as existing within a historical and political context. The introduction thus provides a short analysis of the canonical surveillance film The Conversation to demonstrate how cinematic narrative and surveillance practice function together in the formation of both personal and political subjectivity. The remainder of the introduction provides outlines of the chapters of the book, which address more contemporary films and genres and introduce new theoretical frames through which to understand surveillance through cinema, and vice versa.Less
The book’s introduction provides a historical overview of the intersections of cinema and surveillance and of the theoretical treatment of surveillance in film. Through analysis of the shared technological histories of surveillance and film, as well as exemplary instances of early cinema, it shows the close relationship between the development of narrative technique in film and surveillance practice, arguing that both are deeply implicated in forming racial visibility, and thus that surveillance and cinema are racial projects. This introduction also suggests that such an analysis of surveillance in cinema has been constrained in part by overreliance on the conceptual framework of “voyeurism” and argues that voyeurism must itself be understood as existing within a historical and political context. The introduction thus provides a short analysis of the canonical surveillance film The Conversation to demonstrate how cinematic narrative and surveillance practice function together in the formation of both personal and political subjectivity. The remainder of the introduction provides outlines of the chapters of the book, which address more contemporary films and genres and introduce new theoretical frames through which to understand surveillance through cinema, and vice versa.
Stefano Jossa
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780197266502
- eISBN:
- 9780191884221
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266502.003.0015
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Less popular than in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso has however made an impact on Anglo-American fiction. Loved by ...
More
Less popular than in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso has however made an impact on Anglo-American fiction. Loved by Samuel Beckett, who called risolino ariostesco (Ariosto’s smile) the poetic strategy of his preferred artists, and C. S. Lewis, who famously claimed that his utmost happiness would be to be always sitting by a window overlooking the sea, reading Ariosto’s masterpiece, Orlando Furioso proves more and more influential in contemporary fiction when it comes to epic modes, narrative techniques, fantasy and sci-fi: taken as a source of inspiration by both well-educated and popular writers and filmmakers, such as, among many others, David Lodge in Small World, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro in Ariosto and Jim Jarmusch in Mystery Train, Orlando Furioso proves in tune with two keywords of our contemporary age, irony and entertainment. This essay will explore his legacy in twentieth-century Anglo-American fiction in order to assess its potential in our times.Less
Less popular than in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso has however made an impact on Anglo-American fiction. Loved by Samuel Beckett, who called risolino ariostesco (Ariosto’s smile) the poetic strategy of his preferred artists, and C. S. Lewis, who famously claimed that his utmost happiness would be to be always sitting by a window overlooking the sea, reading Ariosto’s masterpiece, Orlando Furioso proves more and more influential in contemporary fiction when it comes to epic modes, narrative techniques, fantasy and sci-fi: taken as a source of inspiration by both well-educated and popular writers and filmmakers, such as, among many others, David Lodge in Small World, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro in Ariosto and Jim Jarmusch in Mystery Train, Orlando Furioso proves in tune with two keywords of our contemporary age, irony and entertainment. This essay will explore his legacy in twentieth-century Anglo-American fiction in order to assess its potential in our times.
Christopher P. Jones
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199262120
- eISBN:
- 9780191718533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter explores the ways in which Josephus’ rhetorical style of historical writing was influenced by other Greek writers in the Flavian period. It is somewhat difficult to locate such writers ...
More
This chapter explores the ways in which Josephus’ rhetorical style of historical writing was influenced by other Greek writers in the Flavian period. It is somewhat difficult to locate such writers at Rome precisely during Josephus’ residence in the city. The chapter underlines the prologue to the Judaean War, where Josephus responds to previous histories of the war, some likely to have been in Greek, which he thought of poor quality. It argues that Josephus was particularly influenced by Dio Chrysostom, the orator from Prusa in Bithynia, and Plutarch, the philosopher and priest from Chaeronea in Boeotia. Dio’s Alexandrian oration, for example, may have been used by Josephus as a model for his narrative of the tension between Judeans and Greeks in that city in his Judaean Antiquities. As for Plutarch, the chapter maintains that Josephus was particularly influenced by his imperial biographies. However, Domitian’s eventual persecution of Judaean sympathizers likely forced Josephus into literary isolation.Less
This chapter explores the ways in which Josephus’ rhetorical style of historical writing was influenced by other Greek writers in the Flavian period. It is somewhat difficult to locate such writers at Rome precisely during Josephus’ residence in the city. The chapter underlines the prologue to the Judaean War, where Josephus responds to previous histories of the war, some likely to have been in Greek, which he thought of poor quality. It argues that Josephus was particularly influenced by Dio Chrysostom, the orator from Prusa in Bithynia, and Plutarch, the philosopher and priest from Chaeronea in Boeotia. Dio’s Alexandrian oration, for example, may have been used by Josephus as a model for his narrative of the tension between Judeans and Greeks in that city in his Judaean Antiquities. As for Plutarch, the chapter maintains that Josephus was particularly influenced by his imperial biographies. However, Domitian’s eventual persecution of Judaean sympathizers likely forced Josephus into literary isolation.
Vivienne J. Gray
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199563814
- eISBN:
- 9780191724954
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563814.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book is about Xenophon's literary presentation of the leadership of individuals in their communities, from those of private households up to those of great empires. Leadership is his main ...
More
This book is about Xenophon's literary presentation of the leadership of individuals in their communities, from those of private households up to those of great empires. Leadership is his main interest throughout his works, and the examination of the methods he uses to portray leadership gives us an insight into his general literary techniques. The main aim is to show that these techniques produce images of leaders that are rich in literary and conceptual interest and contribute to the literary theory of writing in prose. As part of this analysis, the book addresses readings that have found concealed criticism behind his apparently positive images of leadership in a majority of his works. These represent a dominant trend of literary criticism of Xenophon in our time and we can profit from engaging with them. They can be called ‘ironical’ or ‘subversive’ or ‘darker’ readings and they reflect the preoccupation of the modern world with irony. They reveal the democratic suspicion of leaders that is reflected in modern management theory, which finds leadership problematic because of its inherent drift to autocracy, but solves the dilemma by placing restrictions on the power of leaders, such as the need to secure assent from other members of the organization, and to give them self-determination, inclusiveness, equal participation and deliberation. Xenophon believed also that leaders were fundamental to the success of any organization, but he also knew the risk of the drift toward autocracy, and it will become clear in the course of the analysis that his theory placed restrictions on his leaders that are very like the ones mentioned above in connection with modern democratic management theory.Less
This book is about Xenophon's literary presentation of the leadership of individuals in their communities, from those of private households up to those of great empires. Leadership is his main interest throughout his works, and the examination of the methods he uses to portray leadership gives us an insight into his general literary techniques. The main aim is to show that these techniques produce images of leaders that are rich in literary and conceptual interest and contribute to the literary theory of writing in prose. As part of this analysis, the book addresses readings that have found concealed criticism behind his apparently positive images of leadership in a majority of his works. These represent a dominant trend of literary criticism of Xenophon in our time and we can profit from engaging with them. They can be called ‘ironical’ or ‘subversive’ or ‘darker’ readings and they reflect the preoccupation of the modern world with irony. They reveal the democratic suspicion of leaders that is reflected in modern management theory, which finds leadership problematic because of its inherent drift to autocracy, but solves the dilemma by placing restrictions on the power of leaders, such as the need to secure assent from other members of the organization, and to give them self-determination, inclusiveness, equal participation and deliberation. Xenophon believed also that leaders were fundamental to the success of any organization, but he also knew the risk of the drift toward autocracy, and it will become clear in the course of the analysis that his theory placed restrictions on his leaders that are very like the ones mentioned above in connection with modern democratic management theory.
Simon Hornblower
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199562336
- eISBN:
- 9780191804403
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199562336.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter begins with a discussion of some of the general narrative techniques relevant to Thucydides' rhetoric of history. It then looks at narratological devices in particular, asking how ...
More
This chapter begins with a discussion of some of the general narrative techniques relevant to Thucydides' rhetoric of history. It then looks at narratological devices in particular, asking how Thucydides' use differs from that of a poet of a fiction writer, and why. It discusses narrative displacement, devices for creating author/reader interaction, presentation through negation, varying denomination, and using narrative voices.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of some of the general narrative techniques relevant to Thucydides' rhetoric of history. It then looks at narratological devices in particular, asking how Thucydides' use differs from that of a poet of a fiction writer, and why. It discusses narrative displacement, devices for creating author/reader interaction, presentation through negation, varying denomination, and using narrative voices.
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474483179
- eISBN:
- 9781474495448
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474483179.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This book approaches the Qur’ān as a literary, religious and oral text that affects its audience, drawing on narratology, rhetoric and Qur’ānic studies to develop a new methodology to analyze stories ...
More
This book approaches the Qur’ān as a literary, religious and oral text that affects its audience, drawing on narratology, rhetoric and Qur’ānic studies to develop a new methodology to analyze stories that represent some of the variety of Qur’ānic narrative, stories that are repeated and one that is not: Sūrat Yūsuf, SūratĀl ‘Imrān, SūratMaryam, SūratṬaha and Sūratal-Qaṣaṣ. It looks at how Qur’ānic stories function as narrative: how characters and dialogues are portrayed, what themes are repeated, what verbal echoes and conceptual links are present, what structure is established, and what beliefs these narrative choices strengthen. The book argues that in the Qur’ān, some narrative features that are otherwise puzzling can be seen as instances in which God, as the narrator, centers himself while putting the audience in its place, making the act of reading an interaction between God and the readers. This book examines the themes of: knowledge, control, and consonance, while examining the interaction of the text, the audience, characters and the narrator. This book utilizes and analyzes Qur’ānic commentary: classical and modern, Sunnī, Sufi and Shī‘ī, and demonstrates that a narratological and rhetorical approach to the canonized text can contribute new insights to our understanding of the Qur’ān and its worldview.Less
This book approaches the Qur’ān as a literary, religious and oral text that affects its audience, drawing on narratology, rhetoric and Qur’ānic studies to develop a new methodology to analyze stories that represent some of the variety of Qur’ānic narrative, stories that are repeated and one that is not: Sūrat Yūsuf, SūratĀl ‘Imrān, SūratMaryam, SūratṬaha and Sūratal-Qaṣaṣ. It looks at how Qur’ānic stories function as narrative: how characters and dialogues are portrayed, what themes are repeated, what verbal echoes and conceptual links are present, what structure is established, and what beliefs these narrative choices strengthen. The book argues that in the Qur’ān, some narrative features that are otherwise puzzling can be seen as instances in which God, as the narrator, centers himself while putting the audience in its place, making the act of reading an interaction between God and the readers. This book examines the themes of: knowledge, control, and consonance, while examining the interaction of the text, the audience, characters and the narrator. This book utilizes and analyzes Qur’ānic commentary: classical and modern, Sunnī, Sufi and Shī‘ī, and demonstrates that a narratological and rhetorical approach to the canonized text can contribute new insights to our understanding of the Qur’ān and its worldview.
Esther M. K. Cheung and Nicole Kempton
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789888028566
- eISBN:
- 9789882206991
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888028566.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
A Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, Evans Chan's work is characterized by its transnational context and narrative technique. Migratory experiences, border crossings, and the quest for identity are ...
More
A Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, Evans Chan's work is characterized by its transnational context and narrative technique. Migratory experiences, border crossings, and the quest for identity are recurrent themes in his films. One can say that Chan's migratory experiences in his life naturally have stimulated his interest in these subject matters. In 1984, he furthered his studies in the New School for Social Research in New York and since then he has lived between New York and Hong Kong. As a man wearing many hats and dividing his time between the two cities, he offers alternative visions to the screenscapes of Hong Kong and the United States with a transnational orientation and transcultural orientation. Chan was first known as a cultural critic. He wrote for The Hong Kong Standard as a staff film critic. This chapter presents an interview regarding Chan's thoughts on independent filmmaking in general, and talks more specifically about his work.Less
A Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, Evans Chan's work is characterized by its transnational context and narrative technique. Migratory experiences, border crossings, and the quest for identity are recurrent themes in his films. One can say that Chan's migratory experiences in his life naturally have stimulated his interest in these subject matters. In 1984, he furthered his studies in the New School for Social Research in New York and since then he has lived between New York and Hong Kong. As a man wearing many hats and dividing his time between the two cities, he offers alternative visions to the screenscapes of Hong Kong and the United States with a transnational orientation and transcultural orientation. Chan was first known as a cultural critic. He wrote for The Hong Kong Standard as a staff film critic. This chapter presents an interview regarding Chan's thoughts on independent filmmaking in general, and talks more specifically about his work.
Elisabeth El Refaie
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617036132
- eISBN:
- 9781621036180
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617036132.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
This book concludes by identifying the key formal properties and narrative techniques of a relatively new and flourishing art form, the graphic memoir. The autobiographical comics presented in this ...
More
This book concludes by identifying the key formal properties and narrative techniques of a relatively new and flourishing art form, the graphic memoir. The autobiographical comics presented in this book have shown that individual works differ substantially in terms of their subject matter, artistic style, and the degree to which they claim to be “true” to the author’s real-life experiences. While some graphic memoirists focus on the actual, specific experiences they have had, others use the genre to reflect upon the complex nature of self-identity and truth, often freely mixing nuggets of fact with blatant fiction. Despite their varying motivations, all graphic memoirists must face the same set of fundamental challenges: they must find a way of representing themselves both verbally and visually, address the unique properties of the human sense of time, try to convey a sense of authenticity, and, perhaps most importantly, attract and captivate their readers.Less
This book concludes by identifying the key formal properties and narrative techniques of a relatively new and flourishing art form, the graphic memoir. The autobiographical comics presented in this book have shown that individual works differ substantially in terms of their subject matter, artistic style, and the degree to which they claim to be “true” to the author’s real-life experiences. While some graphic memoirists focus on the actual, specific experiences they have had, others use the genre to reflect upon the complex nature of self-identity and truth, often freely mixing nuggets of fact with blatant fiction. Despite their varying motivations, all graphic memoirists must face the same set of fundamental challenges: they must find a way of representing themselves both verbally and visually, address the unique properties of the human sense of time, try to convey a sense of authenticity, and, perhaps most importantly, attract and captivate their readers.
Andrew Ginger and Geraldine Lawless (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781526124746
- eISBN:
- 9781526138866
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7765/9781526124753
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Over the past quarter of a century, the study of nineteenth-century Hispanic culture and society has undergone two major shifts. The first was a rejection of ‘the myth of backwardness’ a notion that ...
More
Over the past quarter of a century, the study of nineteenth-century Hispanic culture and society has undergone two major shifts. The first was a rejection of ‘the myth of backwardness’ a notion that these cultures and societies were exceptions that trailed behind the wider West. The second trend was a critical focus on a core triad of nation, gender and representation. This volume of essays provides a strong focus for the exploration and stimulation of substantial new areas of inquiry. The shared concern is with how members of the cultural and intellectual elite in the nineteenth century conceived or undertook major activities that shaped their lives. The volume looks at how people did things without necessarily framing questions of motive or incentive in terms that would bring the debate back to a master system of gender, racial, ethnographic, or national proportions. It reviews some key temporal dilemmas faced by a range of nineteenth-century Spanish writers. The volume explores how they employed a series of narrative and rhetorical techniques to articulate the consequent complexities. It also looks at how a number of religious figures negotiated the relationship between politics and religion in nineteenth-century Spain. The volume concentrates on a spectrum of writings and practices within popular literature that reflect on good and bad conduct in Spain through the nineteenth century. Among other topics, it provides information on how to be a man, be a writer for the press, a cultural entrepreneur, an intellectual, and a colonial soldier.Less
Over the past quarter of a century, the study of nineteenth-century Hispanic culture and society has undergone two major shifts. The first was a rejection of ‘the myth of backwardness’ a notion that these cultures and societies were exceptions that trailed behind the wider West. The second trend was a critical focus on a core triad of nation, gender and representation. This volume of essays provides a strong focus for the exploration and stimulation of substantial new areas of inquiry. The shared concern is with how members of the cultural and intellectual elite in the nineteenth century conceived or undertook major activities that shaped their lives. The volume looks at how people did things without necessarily framing questions of motive or incentive in terms that would bring the debate back to a master system of gender, racial, ethnographic, or national proportions. It reviews some key temporal dilemmas faced by a range of nineteenth-century Spanish writers. The volume explores how they employed a series of narrative and rhetorical techniques to articulate the consequent complexities. It also looks at how a number of religious figures negotiated the relationship between politics and religion in nineteenth-century Spain. The volume concentrates on a spectrum of writings and practices within popular literature that reflect on good and bad conduct in Spain through the nineteenth century. Among other topics, it provides information on how to be a man, be a writer for the press, a cultural entrepreneur, an intellectual, and a colonial soldier.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198857518
- eISBN:
- 9780191890277
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198857518.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter discusses the animals of early children’s fiction, showing that their didactic and affective purposes are rooted in the period’s conception of childhood as a time of special closeness to ...
More
This chapter discusses the animals of early children’s fiction, showing that their didactic and affective purposes are rooted in the period’s conception of childhood as a time of special closeness to animal being. Children’s writers teach children to grow away from animality, but also use animals to encourage the child reader’s sympathy. The fiction’s message of kindness to animals depends both on reminding children of feelings they share with nonhuman creatures and on explaining human superiority. The chapter argues that children’s writers make a distinct contribution to a developing literature of animal subjectivity. They make significant innovations in narrative techniques for representing nonhuman viewpoints, not only in their use of animal narrators but in third-person narrative access to non-linguistic animal minds. Writers include Dorothy Kilner, Thomas Day, Sarah Trimmer, Anna Letitia Barbauld, Mary Wollstonecraft, William Blake, Dorothy Wordsworth, Maria Edgeworth, and Edward Augustus Kendall.Less
This chapter discusses the animals of early children’s fiction, showing that their didactic and affective purposes are rooted in the period’s conception of childhood as a time of special closeness to animal being. Children’s writers teach children to grow away from animality, but also use animals to encourage the child reader’s sympathy. The fiction’s message of kindness to animals depends both on reminding children of feelings they share with nonhuman creatures and on explaining human superiority. The chapter argues that children’s writers make a distinct contribution to a developing literature of animal subjectivity. They make significant innovations in narrative techniques for representing nonhuman viewpoints, not only in their use of animal narrators but in third-person narrative access to non-linguistic animal minds. Writers include Dorothy Kilner, Thomas Day, Sarah Trimmer, Anna Letitia Barbauld, Mary Wollstonecraft, William Blake, Dorothy Wordsworth, Maria Edgeworth, and Edward Augustus Kendall.
