Literary Language and Its Public in Late Latin Antiquity and in the Middle Ages [Paperback]

Erich Auerbach (Author), Ralph Manheim (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0691024685 | ISBN-13: 978-0691024684

In this, his final book, Erich Auerbach writes, "My purpose is always to write history." Tracing the transformations of classical Latin rhetoric from late antiquity to the modern era, he explores major concerns raised in his Mimesis: the historical and social contexts in which writings were received, and issues of aesthetics, semantics, stylistics, and sociology that anticipate the concerns of the new historicism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Auerbach magically relates the story of Christian transformation of the . . . styles of classical pagan antiquity with the lowly style accepted as standard in the Middle Ages until the reemergence of the sublime style through Dante's Divine Comedy. . . . -- The Virginia Quarterly Review



This book, like [Mimesis], is necessary reading. . . . [Its] penetration of the Western public and its language is both subtle and powerful. . . . The existence and the delights of his book and of the lifework it completed are an enormous beacon burning against despair. -- The Times Literary Supplement

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (May 17, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691024685
• ISBN-13: 978-0691024684
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,608,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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