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The Origins of Criticism: Literary Culture and Poetic Theory in Classical Greece

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This excellent book illustrates the sort of scholarship that intellectuals were inclined to expect before the postmodern turn led academics to believe that they could support arguments with opinions and autobiography. Ford examines the emergence in classical Greece not only of critical commentary and exegesis but also of poetic theory and poetry itself. Because he knows essentially everything about this period, Ford is able to apply linguistic and historical analysis to these topics to give readers the most in-depth treatment in print. Along the way, readers gain important insights into the works of Plato and Aristotle and are able to understand how the Sophists' teaching of poetry provided the foundation for their subsequent teaching of rhetoric. Ford writes, for example: "Viewing songs as objects produced by a craftsmanly kind of 'making' (poiesis) supported fifth-century rhetorical analyses based on language and structure, and paved the way for the fourth-century study of poetics, 'the art of (verbal) making" (p. 93). Readers who appreciate Edward Schiappa's work will find that THE ORIGINS OF CRITICISM is an excellent companion piece, illuminating the transition from orality to literacy between the sixth and fourth centuries. This text is a "must read" for any serious student of classical Greece.

James D. Williams, Ph.D.