Old Age in Greek and Latin Literature

Thomas M. Falkner · Judith deLuce

jul 1989 · State University of New York Press

Acerca de este libro electrónico

This volume explores the significance of old age in Greek and Latin poetry and dramatic literature, not just in relation to other textual and historical concerns, but as a cultural and intellectual reality of central importance to understanding the works themselves. The book discusses a wide range of authors, from Homer to Aristophanes, Sophocles, and Euripides; from Horace to Vergil, Ovid, and beyond. Classical scholarship on these texts is enriched by a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives drawn from such fields as anthropology, social history, literary theory, psychology, and gerontology. The contributions examine the many and complex representations of old age in classical literature: their relation to the social and psychological realities of old age, their connection with the author's own place in the human life course, their metaphorical and symbolic capacity as poetic vehicles for social and ethical values.

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Thomas M. Falkner is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Judith de Luce is Associate Professor and Chair of Classics and an Affiliate in Women's Studies at Miami University in Ohio.