Herodotus's great work is not only an account of the momentous historical conflict between the Greeks and the Persians but also the earliest sustained exploration in the West of the problem of cultural difference. François Hartog asks fundamental questions about how Herodotus represented this difference. How did he and his readers understand the customs and beliefs of those who were not Greek? How did the historian convince his readers that his account of other peoples was reliable? How is it possible to comprehend a way of life radically different from one's own? What are the linguistic, rhetorical, and philosophical means by which Herodotus fashions his text into a mirror of the marginal and unknown? In answering these questions, Hartog transforms our understanding of the "father of history." His Herodotus is less the chronicler of a victorious Greece than a brilliant writer in pursuit of otherness.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Language Notes
Text: English, French (translation)
From the Inside Flap
"The best book to come out on Herodotus in years."--G. E. R. Lloyd, King's College Cambridge
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mirror of Herodotus,
By James Field "jamesfield10" (New Westminster, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Mirror of Herodotus: The Representation of the Other in the Writing of History (The New Historicism : Studies in Cultural Poetics, 5) (Hardcover)
I read this book because I was interested in Herodotus' representation of the Scythians. The book had its interesting points, but it was a little intellectual, in the negative sense of that word. I often had the feeling that the writer was saying something important, but I missed his point. Over my head? Maybe. The representation of the other, of course, is the point, and the subject matter - Herodotus - is very appropriate too. But I actually feel Herodotus himself is a better commentator and feel that all Hartog accomplished was to make it sound pompous and obscure. Oh well, I guess I'd never cut it as a French intellectual!All the same, I would have ordered the book but for the hefty price tag, primarily because I am interested enough in the subject matter to give it a second, more careful read.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
In the Histories, the Scythians are "others" with a special position: they are, after the Egyptians, those to whom Herodotus devoted the most space, and yet, in contrast to Egypt, their country could offer scarcely any marvels or curiosities worth reporting. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hunting terminology, elicit belief, narrative constraints, concrete space Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Black Sea Greeks, Great King, Persian Wars, Marco Polo, Mother of the Gods, Diogenes Laertius, Aristotle Politics, Classical Philology, Iamblichus Life of Pythagoras, Royal Scythians, Herodotus's Scythians, Pomponius Mela, Coral Gables, Diodorus Siculus, Dionysus Bacchus, General Linguistics, Hecataeus of Miletus, Hippocratic Corpus Airs, Homer Iliad, Homeric Hymn, Mircea Eliade, New York, Nicholas of Damascus, Peloponnesian War, Plutarch Life of Solon New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In the Histories, the Scythians are "others" with a special position: they are, after the Egyptians, those to whom Herodotus devoted the most space, and yet, in contrast to Egypt, their country could offer scarcely any marvels or curiosities worth reporting. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hunting terminology, elicit belief, narrative constraints, concrete space Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Black Sea Greeks, Great King, Persian Wars, Marco Polo, Mother of the Gods, Diogenes Laertius, Aristotle Politics, Classical Philology, Iamblichus Life of Pythagoras, Royal Scythians, Herodotus's Scythians, Pomponius Mela, Coral Gables, Diodorus Siculus, Dionysus Bacchus, General Linguistics, Hecataeus of Miletus, Hippocratic Corpus Airs, Homer Iliad, Homeric Hymn, Mircea Eliade, New York, Nicholas of Damascus, Peloponnesian War, Plutarch Life of Solon New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 60
books:
See all 60 books this book cites
100
books
cite this book:
See all 100 books citing this book
- The Persian Wars (Modern Library College Editions) by Herodotus on 24 pages
- Life of Pythagoras by Iamblichus on 6 pages
- Problems in General Linguistics (Miami Linguistic) by Emile Benveniste on 4 pages
- Polarity and Analogy by G. E. R. Lloyd on page 214, page 225, and page 229
- Suppliant Women (Greek Tragedy in New Translations) by Euripides in Front Matter, page 143, and page 339
See all 60 books this book cites
- Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics) by Roxanne L. Euben on 9 pages
- Shakespeare's Cross-Cultural Encounters by Geraldo U. de Sousa in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Symbolic Blackness and Ethnic Difference in Early Christian Literature: BLACKENED BY THEIR SINS: Early Christian Ethno-Political Rhetorics about Egyptians, Ethiopians, Blacks and Blackness by Gay Byron in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Greek Literature in the Classical Period: The Prose of Historiography and Oratory (Greek Literature, Volume 5) by Gregory Nagy on page 170 (1), page 170 (2), and page 179
- Shock and Awe: War on Words by Bregje van Eekelen on page 104, and page 107
See all 100 books citing this book
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
