1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910787529803321

Autore

Shorrock Robert

Titolo

The myth of paganism : Nonnus, Dionysus and the world of late antiquity / Robert Shorrock

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London, : Bloomsbury, 2013

ISBN

1-4725-4033-6

1-4725-1965-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (186 p.)

Collana

Classical literature and society

Disciplina

883.01

Soggetti

Paganism in literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index

Nota di contenuto

Editor's Foreword -- Preface -- 1. Introduction: The Myth of Paganism -- 2. Inspiration and Authority: The Voice of the Poet in Late Antiquity -- 3. Christ and Dionysus: Nonnus' Paraphrase of St John's Gospel -- 4. Dionysus and Christ: Nonnus' Dionysiaca -- 5. The Poetics of Late Antiquity -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

"Traditional and still prevalent accounts of late antique literature draw a clear distinction between 'pagan' and 'Christian' forms of poetry: whereas Christian poetry is taken seriously in terms its contribution to culture and society at large, so-called pagan or secular poetry is largely ignored, as though it has no meaningful part to play within the late antique world. The Myth of Paganism sets out to deconstruct this view of two contrasting poetic traditions and proposes in its place a new integrated model for the understanding of late antique poetry. As the book argues, the poet of Christ and the poet of the Muses were drawn together into an active, often provocative, dialogue about the relationship between Christianity and the Classical tradition and, ultimately, about the meaning of late antiquity itself. An analysis of the poetry of Nonnus of Panopolis, author of both a 'pagan' epic about Dionysus and a Christian translation of St John's Gospel, helps to illustrate this complex dialectic between pagan and Christian voices."--Bloomsbury Publishing

Traditional and still prevalent accounts of late antique literature draw a clear distinction between 'pagan' and 'Christian' forms of poetry:



whereas Christian poetry is taken seriously in terms its contribution to culture and society at large, so-called pagan or secular poetry is largely ignored, as though it has no meaningful part to play within the late antique world. The Myth of Paganism sets out to deconstruct this view of two contrasting poetic traditions and proposes in its place a new integrated model for the understanding of late antique poetry. As the book argues, the poet of Christ and the poet of the Muses were drawn together into an active, often provocative, dialogue about the relationship between Christianity and the Classical tradition and, ultimately, about the meaning of late antiquity itself. An analysis of the poetry of Nonnus of Panopolis, author of both a 'pagan' epic about Dionysus and a Christian translation of St John's Gospel, helps to illustrate this complex dialectic between pagan and Christian voices