Poetry and Poetics in the Presocratic Philosophers

Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-1-108-92584-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 252 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 374 g

Of the Presocratic thinkers traditionally credited with the foundation of Greek philosophy, Xenophanes, Parmenides and Empedocles are exceptional for writing in verse. This is the first book-length, literary-critical study of their work. It locates the surviving fragments in their performative and wider cultural contexts, applying intertextual and intratextual analyses in order to reconstruct the significance and impact they conveyed for ancient audiences and readers. Building on insights from literary theory and the philosophy of literature, the book sheds new light on these authors' philosophical projects and enriches our appreciation of their works as literary artefacts. It also expands our knowledge of the genres in which they wrote, of the literary culture of the Western Greek world, and of the development of Greek poetics from the Archaic to the Classical periods, exposing the influence of these thinkers on more famous Sophistic and Platonic ideas about literature.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mackenzie, Tom

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Lyrik und Dichter
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Philosophy and Poetry, Truth and Symbolism; 1. Xenophanes; 2. Parmenides; 3. Empedocles; Conclusion; Epilogue: The Legacy of Presocratic Poetics.

Über Autor(innen)

Mackenzie, Tom
Tom Mackenzie is a Research Fellow in the Department of Greek and Latin at University College London.