Declamation, Paternity, and Roman Identity: Authority and the Rhetorical Self

by Erik Gunderson

Overview

Declamation was a staple of education and cultured literary life in the Roman world over many centuries. This book offers a radical re-evaluation of the genre, its social importance, and its role in the history of the Western self. Ironically, this genre obsessed with "growing up" has been rejected by its own posterity. Erik Gunderson explores the social and psychic dynamics of this refusal within the ancient world as well as beyond. The book is of interest to specialists in classics, rhetoric, queer studies, and psychoanalytic literary criticism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521820059
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/19/2003
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Erik Gunderson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Greek and Latin at the Ohio State University. He is the author of Staging Masculinity: The Rhetoric of Performance in the Roman World (2000; ISBN 0472111396).

Table of Contents

Preface: Acheron; Introduction: a praise of folly; Part I. Where Ego Was …: 1. Recalling declamation; 2. Fathers and sons; bodies and places; 3. Living declamation; 4. Raving among the insane; Part II. Let Id Be: 5. An Cimbrice loquendum sit: speaking and unspeaking the language of homosexual desire; 6. Paterni nominis religio; By way of conclusion; Appendix 1: further reading; Appendix 2: sample declamations; List of references; Index locorum; General index.

Editorial Reviews

"...this book makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of the genre of Roman declamation and its place in Roman thought. It is thorough, well conceived, and well executed..." Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews

"This book will be valuable as a corrective to the neglect of declamation as literature and a source for social history. There is humor, irony, and much perceptive scholarship. It is a notable addition to the body of scholarship on Roman declamation." Classic World, Lewis A. Sussman, University of Florida

From the Publisher