Antiquity Now: The Classical World in the Contemporary American Imagination
Files
Description
Written in a lively and accessible style, Antiquity Now opens our gaze to the myriad uses and abuses of classical antiquity in contemporary fiction, film, comics, drama, television - and even internet forums. With every chapter focusing on a different aspect of classical reception - including sexuality, politics, gender and ethnicity - this book explores the ideological motivations behind contemporary American allusions to the classical world. Ultimately, this kaleidoscope of receptions - from calls for marriage equality to examinations of gang violence to passionate pleas for peace (or war) - reveals a 'classical antiquity' that reconfigures itself daily, as modernity explains itself to itself through ever-expanding technologies and media. Antiquity Now thus examines the often-surprising redeployment of the art and literature of the ancient world, a geography charged with especial value in the contemporary imagination.
Publication Date
6-2015
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
City
Cambridge
Keywords
civilization, classical influences, United States, Virgil, Homer, Oedipus, Eros, barbarism, expansionism, feminism, sexuality, psychology, Middle East
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Classics
Table of Contents
List of illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- It's Greek to them: Gay and lesbian receptions of the ancient world -- Classics and ideology -- September 11th on the Western stage -- From the borders: Contemporary identity, community, and the ancient world -- Power, the canon, and the unexpected voice -- In conclusion: On fractures and fracturing -- References -- Index
Original Publication Information
Cambridge University Press
Recommended Citation
Jenkins, T. E. (2015). Antiquity now: The classical world in the contemporary American imagination. Cambridge University Press.