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Reading miscellany in the Roman empire : Aulus Gellius and the imperial prose collection /

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"Aulus Gellius and his sole surviving work, the Noctes Atticae (NA), have long stood on the periphery of Classical scholarship. This second century CE compilation, conventionally termed a miscellany, collects vast amounts of otherwise lost ancient literature, and the depictions of scholarly act...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: DiGiulio, Scott J. (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2024]
Subjects:
Gellius, Aulus. > Noctes Atticae.
Latin prose literature > History and criticism.
Rome > Intellectual life.
Prose latine > Histoire et critique.
Rome.
Ancient.
HISTORY.
Ancient & Classical.
LITERARY CRITICISM.
Books & Reading.
Literature: history & criticism.
Literature.
Electronic books.
Literary criticism.
Critiques littéraires.
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Cover
  • Reading Miscellany in the Roman Empire
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Introduction: Ways of Reading and the Miscellanistic Project
  • Defining Miscellany
  • The Challenge of Miscellany and Narratives of Randomness
  • Ways of Reading in the NA: An Overview
  • 1. Reading the NA through the Latin Literary Past: Gellius and the Imperial Prose Tradition
  • Introduction: Latin Literature and the Critical Tradition in the NA
  • The Negative Critical Model of the Elder Pliny: Reading the HN in the NA
  • Gellius between Plinian Poles: otium, negotium, and the Gellian Persona
  • Quintilian-​Pliny-​Gellius
  • or, Gellian Intertextuality at Play
  • Gellius' Dialogus de Seneca-​A Case Study of Imperial Literary Criticism
  • Conclusion
  • 2. Approaching a Miscellanistic Work from the Outside In: Paratextual Strategies
  • Introduction: Framing the Gellian Paratext
  • Reading from the Outside In
  • or, The Title as Chronotope
  • Reading from the Top Down: The Table of Contents
  • Reading Lemmata with Their Chapters
  • Conclusion
  • 3. Prescribing a Way of Reading: Gellius' Preface as Critical Model
  • Introduction: Between Paratext and Text
  • Crossing the Threshold: The Preface
  • Alternative Latin Models: Pliny the Elder
  • A Model of Critical Reading: Plutarch's De Audiendis Poetis and De Recta Ratione Audiendi
  • Conclusion: Gellius' Ludus Musicus
  • 4. Confronting Variety in the NA: A Guide for the Perplexed
  • Introduction: Varietas, Miscellanistic Aesthetics, and the NA
  • The Architecture of the NA: Forging Connections
  • Effects of Disparilitas: Variety and Paired Chapters
  • Character-​Oriented Reading: Fronto and Gellius' (Neg)otium
  • Citation-​Oriented Reading: NA 2.20-​2.30 and Gellius' Comparative Approach
  • How to Read the Greek and Latin Languages: 2.20-​3, 2.26
  • Greco-​Roman Values and Gellian Reading: 2.24-​5, 27
  • Tying It All Together: 2.28-​30
  • Conclusion
  • 5. The Poetics of Prose: Gellius, Alexandrianism, and the Composed Book
  • Introduction
  • Gellius, Catullus, and the Tradition of Lyric
  • Gellius' Horace
  • From Poetics to Prosaics: Pliny, Gellius, and the Alexandrian Aesthetic
  • Conclusion
  • 6. How to Read a Book: NA Book 3
  • Introduction
  • Setting the Stage: NA 3.1
  • Varro's Voice: Authority and Antiquarianism
  • Shifting Definitions of Virtus and Roman Identity
  • A Question of Character: Favorinus and Roman Masculinity
  • Conclusion: Harmonizing Competing Ways of Reading in the Gellian Book
  • 7. Approaches to Reading Miscellanistic Aesthetics from Late Antiquity to Today
  • Introduction
  • Gellius' Jeweled Style? The NA in Late Antiquity
  • The Gellian Renaissance and the Birth of the Essay: From Poliziano's Miscellanea to Montaigne's Essais
  • Miscellanism in England: Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy and D'Israeli's Miscellanies