The Lives of the Greek Poets

(Paperback, Second)

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Mary R. Lefkowitz has extensively revised and rewritten her classic study to introduce a new generation of students to the lives of the Greek poets. Thoroughly updated with references to the most recent scholarship, this second edition includes new material and fresh analysis of the ancient biographies of Greece's most famous poets. With little or no independent historical information to draw on, ancient writers searched for biographical data in the poets' own works and in comic poetry about them. Lefkowitz describes how biographical mythology was created and offers a sympathetic account of how individual biographers reconstructed the poets' lives. She argues that the life stories of Greek poets, even though primarily fictional, still merit close consideration, as they provide modern readers with insight into ancient notions about the creative process and the purpose of poetic composition.

Reviews

This second edition is enriched by references to recent studies as well as by deeper analysis. * L'Antiquit Classique (Bloomsbury translation) *

Author Bio

Mary R. Lefkowitz is Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Emerita, at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA. She is the author of many books on classical culture, including Women in Greek Myth, First-Person Fictions, Not Out of Africa, and Greek Gods, Human Lives. She is co-editor of Women's Life in Greece and Rome and Black Athena Revisited.