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Een telkens nieuwe oudheid, of: hoe Tiberius in New Jersey belandde
Onze cultuur ontwikkelt zich in een voortdurende confrontatie met de klassieke cultuur. Dat geldt voor literair werk, dat voortdurend teruggrijpt op werken van klassieke schrijvers en denkers als Homerus en Plato. Het geldt ook voor materiële cultuur, zoals het Parthenon en Pantheon.
'In Tiberius in de Nieuwe Wereld' onderzoekt cultuurhistoricus David Rijser met virtuoze pen diverse aspecten van de hedendaagse cultuur en hun verbintenis met het klassieke verleden. Welke dialoog voeren we met de Oudheid? Wat hebben de klassieken ons cultureel en politiek te vertellen, en wat zeggen wij terug?
In het eerste deel bespreekt Rijser zeven classics en de reden waarom zij nog altijd populair zijn. Vervolgens bekijkt hij de manier waarop de Renaissance terug begon te kijken naar de Oudheid. Hij sluit af met hedendaagse cultuur, zoals de tv-serie The Sopranos, die ondanks de schijn van het tegendeel alles met de klassieken te maken blijkt te hebben.
'In Tiberius in de Nieuwe Wereld' onderzoekt cultuurhistoricus David Rijser met virtuoze pen diverse aspecten van de hedendaagse cultuur en hun verbintenis met het klassieke verleden. Welke dialoog voeren we met de Oudheid? Wat hebben de klassieken ons cultureel en politiek te vertellen, en wat zeggen wij terug?
In het eerste deel bespreekt Rijser zeven classics en de reden waarom zij nog altijd populair zijn. Vervolgens bekijkt hij de manier waarop de Renaissance terug begon te kijken naar de Oudheid. Hij sluit af met hedendaagse cultuur, zoals de tv-serie The Sopranos, die ondanks de schijn van het tegendeel alles met de klassieken te maken blijkt te hebben.
503 pages, Hardcover
Published March 2, 2016
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February 8, 2020I was unfamiliar with the concept of 'reception history'. David Rijser offers a popular presentation of the reception of the likes of Homer and Virgil through the ages up to our time, with plenty of attention to Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Milton and Mozart along the way. His main thesis argues that reception history should not be a mere complement to the study of the classics, but its main access path.
Until "recently" (i.e., between 80 and 30 years ago depending on geography) the study of classical Latin and ancient Greek was an important part of the standard curriculum for upper-middle-class adolescents; and even in the study of modern languages, much more time and effort went into the older literary works that defined the origins of the language than into contemporary literary or popular works. Practical applicability did not figure in the equation: knowing one's canon was as essential to fitting in socially as the possession of a family name and, if possible, a bit of money as well.
In chapter 6 of his brilliant analysis The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind James Boyle traces the history of the hip-hop song "George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People" jumping from source to even-more-original source and concluding that copyright on music, if not entirely absurd, is at least very difficult to define.
Rijser performs the same analysis on the canon of western literature. The statement that he is trying to prove is not about legal issues, but about the continuity in European and North American culture, and how it is ultimately rooted in ancient Greece and its prime plagiarist, Rome - "ultimately" of course only in the sense that we have no written records of what must have been still earlier sources. The subtitle refers to a rather sweet deconstruction of the popular television series "The Sopranos", which appears to be choke full of classical references.
This book started as a series of newspaper columns by a Dutch professor of classical languages. It is not written for fellow scientists but it has all the required references and footnotes, as well as suggestions for further reading. It is highly readable to a nonscholar, even to someone like me who has forgotten all of his Virgil (or has never read any) - but after this the temptation is strong to go digging in that dusty old school trunk!
Until "recently" (i.e., between 80 and 30 years ago depending on geography) the study of classical Latin and ancient Greek was an important part of the standard curriculum for upper-middle-class adolescents; and even in the study of modern languages, much more time and effort went into the older literary works that defined the origins of the language than into contemporary literary or popular works. Practical applicability did not figure in the equation: knowing one's canon was as essential to fitting in socially as the possession of a family name and, if possible, a bit of money as well.
In chapter 6 of his brilliant analysis The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind James Boyle traces the history of the hip-hop song "George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People" jumping from source to even-more-original source and concluding that copyright on music, if not entirely absurd, is at least very difficult to define.
Rijser performs the same analysis on the canon of western literature. The statement that he is trying to prove is not about legal issues, but about the continuity in European and North American culture, and how it is ultimately rooted in ancient Greece and its prime plagiarist, Rome - "ultimately" of course only in the sense that we have no written records of what must have been still earlier sources. The subtitle refers to a rather sweet deconstruction of the popular television series "The Sopranos", which appears to be choke full of classical references.
This book started as a series of newspaper columns by a Dutch professor of classical languages. It is not written for fellow scientists but it has all the required references and footnotes, as well as suggestions for further reading. It is highly readable to a nonscholar, even to someone like me who has forgotten all of his Virgil (or has never read any) - but after this the temptation is strong to go digging in that dusty old school trunk!
July 18, 2019
Ik heb een grote liefde voor receptie dus ik was van tevoren al een beetje bevooroordeeld over dit boek. Over het algemeen vond ik het interessant en goed geschreven. Soms wel onnodig gebruik van 'moeilijke' woorden of zinnen die maar door en door gingen. Daarnaast was ik het er niet altijd mee eens (dat hoeft natuurlijk ook niet), maar dat maakte het wel moeilijker om mee te gaan met de rest van de argumentatie.
Al met al een interessant boek en een aanrader voor iedereen die meer wil weten van de doorwerking van de klassieken door de eeuwen heen.
Al met al een interessant boek en een aanrader voor iedereen die meer wil weten van de doorwerking van de klassieken door de eeuwen heen.
June 21, 2017
The classics, time and again, ‘hidden in plain sight’ throughout our cultural history.
A masterpiece!
A masterpiece!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews