Customer Reviews

The Mirror of Herodotus: The Representation of the Other in the Writing of History (The New Historicism : Studies in Cultural Poetics, 5)

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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.