You have no items in your shopping cart.
Close
Search
Filters

"Epistolarity" in the First Book of Horace's Epistles

De Pretis’s book focuses on the epistolary features of Horace’s First Book of Epistles, reading them from points of view related to the epistolary form: the weight of the addressee; the dialogue between literary genres; the poet's self-representation; temporality; and the power of the author. These issues also pertain to literature as such, since all literature can be regarded, to a certain degree, as "epistolary." But the extent and consistency with which the Epistles explore epistolary aspects, can only be explained in terms of their generic affiliation.
Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-0393-1
  • *
Publication Status: In Print
Publication Date: Jul 14,2014
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 249
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0393-1
$90.00
Ship to
*
*
Shipping Method
Name
Estimated Delivery
Price
No shipping options

Horace's First Book of Epistles has traditionally been approached either for its philosophical content, or in order to explore the question whether the poems are "real" letters or not. Those who answered positively tended to view the Epistles as documents of Horace's life; those who answered negatively emphasized their being poems, sometimes linking them too narrowly to the Odes or the Satires.

But a distinction between "real" and fictitious letters is not so clear and self-explanatory as it is commonly regarded to be; indeed, such a question can be left unanswered, and is irrelevant to the appreciation of Horace's Epistles in their peculiarities of form and content. There is no doubt that the Epistles present themselves as letters, starting from the title (which there are no strong reasons to doubt), and by employing epistolary formulas; at the same time they are verse letters, and make no mystery of being refined poems. But if we distance ourselves from the issue of "reality," the poems' refinement will not appear in contradiction with their "epistolarity," that is, with the fact that they are cast in letter-form.

This book focuses on the epistolary features of the Epistles, reading them from points of view related to the epistolary form: the weight of the addressee; the dialogue between literary genres; the poet's self-representation; temporality; and the power of the author. These issues also pertain to literature as such, since all literature can be regarded, to a certain degree, as "epistolary." But the extent and consistency with which the Epistles explore epistolary aspects, can only be explained in terms of their generic affiliation.

Horace's First Book of Epistles has traditionally been approached either for its philosophical content, or in order to explore the question whether the poems are "real" letters or not. Those who answered positively tended to view the Epistles as documents of Horace's life; those who answered negatively emphasized their being poems, sometimes linking them too narrowly to the Odes or the Satires.

But a distinction between "real" and fictitious letters is not so clear and self-explanatory as it is commonly regarded to be; indeed, such a question can be left unanswered, and is irrelevant to the appreciation of Horace's Epistles in their peculiarities of form and content. There is no doubt that the Epistles present themselves as letters, starting from the title (which there are no strong reasons to doubt), and by employing epistolary formulas; at the same time they are verse letters, and make no mystery of being refined poems. But if we distance ourselves from the issue of "reality," the poems' refinement will not appear in contradiction with their "epistolarity," that is, with the fact that they are cast in letter-form.

This book focuses on the epistolary features of the Epistles, reading them from points of view related to the epistolary form: the weight of the addressee; the dialogue between literary genres; the poet's self-representation; temporality; and the power of the author. These issues also pertain to literature as such, since all literature can be regarded, to a certain degree, as "epistolary." But the extent and consistency with which the Epistles explore epistolary aspects, can only be explained in terms of their generic affiliation.

Write your own review
  • Only registered users can write reviews
*
*
Bad
Excellent
*
*
*
*
Contributor

Annade Pretis

  • Acknowledgements (page 5)
  • Contents (page 7)
  • Introduction (page 9)
  • Towards Epistolarity (page 13)
  • The Weight of the Addressee (page 47)
  • Epistolarity and Self-Representation (page 71)
  • Dialogue of Genres, or, How to Define the Letter-Form (page 97)
  • Narrative and Temporality in the First Book of Epistles (page 137)
  • The Slave and the Master (page 187)
  • Index (page 197)
  • Works Cited (page 245)
Customers who bought this item also bought
ImageFromGFF

Gnostike Schriften in koptischer Sprache

The two Books of Jeu and an unnamed Coptic Gnostic work, with a German translation; diagrams of the original reproduced in Greek.
$256.00 $153.60
ImageFromGFF

An Ancient Syriac Translation of the Kur’an exhibiting New Verses and Variants

The focus of this study is the final part of Dionysius bar Salibi’s polemical work against the Muslims, which contains a number of quotations from the Qur’an in Syriac translation.
$46.00 $27.60
ImageFromGFF

The Secret of the Jerusalem Temple

In this thoroughly provocative book, the late Eugene Seaich makes a detailed study of the intractable mystery of the Jerusalem temple. Using historical sources and ingenious detective work, Seaich suggests that the cherubim in Solomon’s temple were portrayed in a copulatory embrace. Aware that this thesis is not entirely novel, the author builds a substantial case in its favor and traces the influence of the atonement (at-one-ment) theology behind the concept through Israel’s wisdom school, New Testament and Gnostic sources, up through the Middle Ages.
$207.00 $124.20
ImageFromGFF

Homilies on 1–2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

St. John Chrysostom’s homilies on 1–2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon are presented here in English translation.
$183.00 $109.80