British Classics Outside England: The Academy and Beyond [Hardcover]

Judith P. Hallett (Author, Editor), Christopher Stray (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2008

The essays in this informative book explore the impact of British classics--the study of Greco-Roman antiquity, with an emphasis on the classical Latin and Greek languages--beyond the borders of England itself, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: inside the academy as specialized scholarship and teaching, outside the academy as a mode of social and cultural formation. Not only did British classics permeate England; they brought English values to Scotland, Wales, and America as well. Far into the twentieth century, to learn classics "the Oxbridge way" was to cloak oneself in the mantle of a gentleman even when the "gentleman" was a woman.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The study of classical antiquity constituted the armature of most formal education for boys and young men in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries throughout the West. In recent years historians have been engaged in a critical examination of the role of such a curriculum in the formation of social elites in Britain. British Classics Outside England extends this analysis to cover the British Empire and much of the rest of the English-speaking world, and as such is long overdue. --Robert Ackerman, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge

British Classics Outside England explores the relationship between Anglophone classical traditions on both sides of the Atlantic. Analysis of the distinctive roles of Scotland and Wales adds a new dimension to previous research and contributes to a rich investigation of the intersecting histories of scholarship, politics, gender, and cultural identity. --Lorna Hardwick, Director, Reception of Classical Texts Research Project, The Open University

About the Author

Judith P. Hallett (Ph.D. Harvard University) is Professor of Classics, University of Maryland, College Park. Other publications by Hallett include: Roman Sexualities (co-editor, 1997), Compromising Traditions: The Personal Voice in Classical Scholarship (1996), and Fathers and Daughters in Roman Society: Women and the Elite Family (1984).

Christopher Stray (Ph.D. University of Wales) is Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Classics, Ancient History, and Egyptology, Swansea University. His publications on the history of classical education and scholarship include Classics Transformed: Schools, Universities, and Society in England 1830-1960 (1998) and The Living Word: W. H. D. Rouse and the Crisis of Classics in Edwardian England (1992).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Baylor University Press (December 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160258012X
• ISBN-13: 978-1602580121
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,867,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)