The City and the Stage

Performance, Genre, and Gender in Plato's Laws

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Drama, Greek & Roman, Fiction & Literature, History, Ancient History, Greece
Cover of the book The City and the Stage by Marcus Folch, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Marcus Folch ISBN: 9780190606480
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: December 1, 2015
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Marcus Folch
ISBN: 9780190606480
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: December 1, 2015
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

What role did poetry, music, song, and dance play in the social and political life of the ancient Greek city? How did philosophy respond to, position itself against, and articulate its own ambitions in relation to the poetic tradition? How did ancient philosophers theorize and envision alternatives to fourth-century Athenian democracy? The City and the Stage poses such questions in a study of the Laws, Plato's last, longest, and unfinished philosophical dialogue. Reading the Laws in its literary, historical, and philosophical contexts, this book offers a new interpretation of Plato's final dialogue with the Greek poetic tradition and an exploration of the dialectic between philosophy and mimetic art. Although Plato is often thought hostile to poetry and famously banishes mimetic art from the ideal city of the Republic, The City and the Stage shows that in his final work Plato made a striking about-face, proposing to rehabilitate Athenian performance culture and envisaging a city, Magnesia, in which poetry, music, song, and dance are instrumental in the cultivation of philosophical virtues. Plato's views of the performative properties of music, dance, and poetic language, and the psychological underpinnings of aesthetic experience receive systematic treatment in this book for the first time. The social role of literary criticism, the power of genres to influence a society and lead to specific kinds of constitutions, performance as a mechanism of gender construction, and the position of women in ancient Greek performance culture are central themes throughout this study. A wide-ranging examination of ancient Greek philosophy and fourth-century intellectual culture, The City and the Stage will be of significance to anyone interested in ancient Greek literature, performance, and Platonic philosophy in its historical contexts.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

What role did poetry, music, song, and dance play in the social and political life of the ancient Greek city? How did philosophy respond to, position itself against, and articulate its own ambitions in relation to the poetic tradition? How did ancient philosophers theorize and envision alternatives to fourth-century Athenian democracy? The City and the Stage poses such questions in a study of the Laws, Plato's last, longest, and unfinished philosophical dialogue. Reading the Laws in its literary, historical, and philosophical contexts, this book offers a new interpretation of Plato's final dialogue with the Greek poetic tradition and an exploration of the dialectic between philosophy and mimetic art. Although Plato is often thought hostile to poetry and famously banishes mimetic art from the ideal city of the Republic, The City and the Stage shows that in his final work Plato made a striking about-face, proposing to rehabilitate Athenian performance culture and envisaging a city, Magnesia, in which poetry, music, song, and dance are instrumental in the cultivation of philosophical virtues. Plato's views of the performative properties of music, dance, and poetic language, and the psychological underpinnings of aesthetic experience receive systematic treatment in this book for the first time. The social role of literary criticism, the power of genres to influence a society and lead to specific kinds of constitutions, performance as a mechanism of gender construction, and the position of women in ancient Greek performance culture are central themes throughout this study. A wide-ranging examination of ancient Greek philosophy and fourth-century intellectual culture, The City and the Stage will be of significance to anyone interested in ancient Greek literature, performance, and Platonic philosophy in its historical contexts.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Social Psychology and Social Justice by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Pride and Prejudice by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Handbook of Adolescent Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Making Magic by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Diary Methods by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book The American Dream and the Public Schools by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Flat Protagonists by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Beyond the Baton by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Oxford Children's Classics: The Secret Garden by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book The Iron Curtain : Churchill, America, and the Origins of the Cold War by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Angel Island by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book The New Turkey and Its Discontents by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Medical Saints: Cosmas and Damian in a Postmodern World by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Do-It-Yourself Democracy by Marcus Folch
Cover of the book Creativity and Development by Marcus Folch
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy