Late Antiquity is often assumed to have witnessed the demise of literature as a social force and its retreat into the school and the private reading room: whereas the sophists of the Second Sophistic were influential social players, their late antique counterparts are thought to have been overshadowed by bishops. Literature and Society in the Fourth Century AD argues that this presumed difference should be attributed less to a fundamental change in the role of literature than to different scholarly methodologies with which Greek and Latin texts from the second and the fourth century are being studied. Focusing on performance, the literary construction of reality and self-presentation, this volume highlights how literature continued to play an important role in fourth-century elite society.
Author(s): Lieve van Hoof, Peter van Nuffelen
Series: Mnemosyne Supplements 373
Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: x+247
Tags: Medieval Movements Periods History Criticism Literature Fiction Ancient Classical American Creative Writing Composition English Literary Theory World Humanities New Used Rental Textbooks Specialty Boutique
1 Lieve Van Hoof and Peter Van Nuffelen: The Social Role and Place of Literature in the Fourth Century AD
2 Mark Vessey: Literary History: A Fourth-Century Roman Invention?
3 Bertrand Lançon: Militia philosophorum: Le rôle des lettrés dans l’entourage des empereurs romains du IVe siècle
4 Neil McLynn: Gregory’s Governors: Paideia and Patronage in Cappadocia
5 Lieve Van Hoof: Lobbying through Literature: Libanius, For the Teachers (Oration 31)
6 Morwenna Ludlow: Texts, Teachers and Pupils in the Writings of Gregory of Nyssa
7 John Weisweiler: Unreliable Witness: Failings of the Narrative in Ammianus Marcellinus
8 Sigrid Mratschek: A Living Relic for the Vicar of Rome: Strategies of Visualization in a Civil Case
9 Clare Coombe: A Hero in our Midst: Stilicho as a Literary Construct in the Poetry of Claudian
10 Roald Dijkstra: The Apostles as Instruments of Social Engagement: The Poetical Representation of the Apostles as a Means of Influencing Society
11 Peter Van Nuffelen: A War of Words: Sermons and Social Status in Constantinople under the Theodosian Dynasty
