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Summary
Summary
Jean-Pierre Vernant and Pierre Vidal-Naquet are leaders in a contemporary French classical scholarship that has produced a stunning reconfiguration of Greek thought and literature. In this work, the authors present a disturbing and decidedly nonclassical reading of Greek tragedy that insists on its radical discontinuity with our own outlook and with our social, aesthetic, and psychological categories. Originally published in French in two volumes, this new single-volume edition includes revised essays from Volume I as well as the first English translation of Volume II.
Author Notes
Jean-Pierre Vernant is a leading French scholar of ancient Greece who attempts to elucidate Greek religions, especially mythology, through the development of a historical anthropology. In 1984 he retired from his position as professor of the comparative study of ancient religion at the College de France. Among his earlier accomplishments, Vernant received the Croix de Guerre and the Croix de la Liberation for his service in the French army in World War II; he was also made an officer in the French Legion of Honor. Vernant is a writer of essays more than of books. As anthropologist James Redfield (see Vol. 3) puts it, "His forte . . . has been the informal, slightly rambling essay. . .; he does not collect evidence in order to make a case but rather cites the material in order to illustrate his ideas."Vernant's career has been distinguished by his collaboration with other scholars, most notably with Marcel Detienne and Pierre Vidal-Naquet. His interest in applying anthropological study to ancient Greece derives from his teacher, Louis Gernet, a member of Emile Durkheim's (see Vol. 3) school of L'Annee Sociologique. Vernant also adapts ideas from structuralist anthropology, without, however, surrendering a historical perspective. He works most often on materials from Greece of the fifth century b.c. Classicists often resist Vernant's approach because it is so heavily informed by theory. Nevertheless, it provides a wonderfully rich and complex vision of the ancient world and is worth serious and prolonged consideration. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (1)
Choice Review
This collection of the most important works of two preeminent French scholars is largely structuralist in approach. These studies originally appeared in journals and books that may not be easily accessible to scholars outside of France. They were later collected in Mythe et tragedie en Grece ancienne (Paris, 1981). For English-speaking scholars, Lloyd has provided a precise and idiomatic translation. Two of the best essays have, however, appeared elsewhere in English: "Tensions and Ambiguities in Greek Tragedy" in Interpretation: Theory and Practice, ed. by C.S. Singleton (1969) and "Ambiguity and Reversal" in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, ed. by Harold Bloom (CH, Jul '88). The book serves both nonclassicist and classicist. Anthropologists and sociologists will be interested in the discussion of masks and ritual; psychologists will want to evaluate the analysis of the Oedipus complex; and historians will follow the author's investigation of the interaction of history and tragedy. Classical scholars, however, will be disappointed in the transcription of the Greek texts, which are printed in a nonstandard script, with troubling omissions and errors. To most undergraduates the depth of analysis will be overwhelming, although advanced students will find them well worth the effort. Recommended for graduate and undergraduate research collections. M. Damen Indiana University--Bloomington