Classics in Extremis: The Edges of Classical Reception

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Classics in Extremis reimagines classical reception. Its contributors explore some of the most remarkable, hard-fought and unsettling claims ever made on the ancient world: from the coal-mines of England to the paradoxes of Borges, from Victorian sexuality to the trenches of the First World War, from American public-school classrooms to contemporary right-wing politics. How does the reception of the ancient world change under impossible strain Its protagonists are marginal figures who resisted that definition in the strongest terms. Contributors argue for a decentered model of classical reception: where the marginal shapes the central as much as vice versa and where the most unlikely appropriations of antiquity often have the greatest impact. What kind of distortions does the model of centre and margins produce How can marginal receptions be recovered most effectively Bringing together some of the leading scholars in the field, Classics in Extremis moves beyond individual case studies to develop fresh methodologies and perspectives on the study of classical reception.

Reviews

This is a thought-provoking, engaging volume. Its scope ensures that it will appeal to a wide range of audiences, while pushing us to think further not only about the reception of classics in contexts that have often been seen as marginal, peripheral, or in extremis, but also to see how these edges have been altered and re-shaped by those engaging with Graeco-Roman antiquity. * Classics for All *
[The contributors] have enlivened marginal voices upon whose winged-words were the Greeks and Romans. The range of these voices is proof that Classics has never truly been the exclusive realm of the elite male, despite attempts by the latter to make it so Classics in Extremis is an excellent and timely addition to the contemporary scholarly zeitgeist. * Ancient World Magazine *

Author Bio

Edmund Richardson is Associate Professor of Classics at Durham University, UK. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity (2013), and was named one of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers in 2016.