Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of Their Texts

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of Their Texts
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Peter T. Struck
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:312
Dimensions(mm): Height 235,Width 152
Category/GenreLiterary studies - classical, early and medieval
Literary studies - poetry and poets
ISBN/Barcode 9780691162263
ClassificationsDewey:881.0915
Audience
Tertiary Education (US: College)
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Princeton University Press
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publication Date 10 March 2014
Publication Country United States

Description

Nearly all of us have studied poetry and been taught to look for the symbolic as well as literal meaning of the text. Is this the way the ancients saw poetry? In Birth of the Symbol, Peter Struck explores the ancient Greek literary critics and theorists who invented the idea of the poetic "symbol." The book notes that Aristotle and his followers di

Author Biography

Peter T. Struck is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a fellow at the National Humanities Center.

Reviews

Winner of the 2007 Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit "A rich and fascinating account of how the ideas of symbolism and allegorical reading developed over the course of classical antiquity. It is a remarkable achievement."--David Konstan, Literary Imagination "This book offers a remarkably comprehensive study of ancient symbolic interpretation from the Pre-Socratics to the later Neoplatonists and beyond."--Derek Collins, Classical World