Ancient Epistolary Fictions: The Letter in Greek Literature [Hardcover]

Patricia A. Rosenmeyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0521800048 | ISBN-13: 978-0521800044

This book offers the first comprehensive look at the use of imaginary letters in Greek literature from Homer to Philostratus. By imaginary letters, it means letters written in the voice of another, and either inserted into a narrative (epic, historiography, tragedy, the novel), or comprising a free-standing collection (e.g. the Greek love letter collections of the Imperial Roman period). The book challenges the notion that Ovid "invented" the fictional letter form in the Heroides, and considers a wealth of Greek antecedents for the later European epistolary novel tradition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...this book is an interesting and enjoyable journey through a variety of Greek texts...It presents a clear and thoughtful account of attempts to categorize and theorize different types of letter...This book is very successful in terms of its project and the analysis of its themes."
-Ruth Scodel, The Classical Outlook

"Rosenmeyer has written the first comprehensive analysis of the ancient Greek letter in and as literature...The book is clearly written, thoroughly documented, and imaginatively argued, and demonstrates that fictional letters constitute a useful literary category."
Religious Studies Review

"This volume will become a standard reference work for this subject matter and time period."
CHOICE

"The Ancient Epistolary Fictions: The Letter in greek Literature is a book that every research library should have in its collection. R's meticulous and systematic scholarhip, her complete and substantiated suggestions and ideas, and her careful philological approach to these selected texts result in a sound piece of erudite work. The sections on the ancient novel and letters themselves make the whole enterprise worthwhile."
Classical Bulletin

"After reading Rosenmeyer's book I realized how much my studies of epistolary fiction in the early modern period had underestimated the importance of Greek models. As Rosenmeyer demonstrates, virtually every epistolary theme we are familiar with found its first use in a Greek text."
Thomas O. Beebee, Comparative Literature Studies

Book Description

This book offers the first comprehensive look at the use of imaginary letters in Greek literature from Homer to Philostratus. By imaginary letters, it means letters written in the voice of another, and either inserted into a narrative (epic, historiography, tragedy, the novel), or comprising a free-standing collection (e.g. the Greek love letter collections of the Imperial Roman period). The book challenges the notion that Ovid 'invented' the fictional letter form in the Heroides, and considers a wealth of Greek antecedents for the later European epistolary novel tradition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (April 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521800048
• ISBN-13: 978-0521800044
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,479,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.