Aesthetic Experiences and Classical Antiquity
Subtitle: The Significance of Form in Narratives and Pictures
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 312
ISBN-13: 9781107192652
Subjects: Form (aesthetics)
Description: "In this bold book, Jonas Grethlein proposes a new dialogue between the fields of Classics and aesthetics. Ancient material, he argues, has the capacity to challenge and re-orientate current debates. Comparisons with modern art and literature help to balance the historicism of classical scholarship with transcultural theoretical critique. Grethlein discusses ancient narratives and pictures in order to explore the nature of aesthetic experience. While our responses to both narratives and pictures are vicarious, the 'as-if' on which they are premised is specifically shaped by the form of the representation. Form emerges as a key to how narratives and pictures constitute an important means of engaging with experience. Combining theoretical reflections with close readings, this book will appeal to textual scholars as well as to art historians"--