1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910824706803321

Autore

Chrysanthou Chrysanthos S.

Titolo

Plutarch's Parallel lives - narrative technique and moral judgement / / Chrysanthos S. Chrysanthou

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin : , : De Gruyter, , [2018]

©2018

ISBN

3-11-057391-1

3-11-057471-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (238 pages)

Collana

Trends in classics - supplementary volumes ; ; volume 57

Disciplina

888.0108

Soggetti

Judgment (Ethics)

Greece Biography History and criticism

Rome Biography History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Preface / Chrysanthou, Chrysanthos S. -- Contents -- 1. Introduction: Plutarch's Lives, Moralism, and Narrative Technique -- 2. Life-Writing in Triangles: Plutarch, Readers, and the Men of History -- 3. Emotion, Perception, and Cognition: The Individual and Society -- 4. A Life without End? -- 5. "It Remains to Consider the Lives in Parallel" (Ag./Cleom.-Gracchi 1.1) -- 6. Conclusion: On the Malice of Plutarch? -- Texts, translations, and abbreviations -- Bibliography -- Index Locorum -- Index Nominum et Rerum

Sommario/riassunto

In the Parallel Lives Plutarch does not absolve his readers of the need for moral reflection by offering any sort of hard and fast rules for their moral judgement. Rather, he uses strategies to elicit readers' active engagement with the act of judging. This book, drawing on the insights of recent narrative theories, especially narratology and reader-response criticism, examines Plutarch's narrative techniques in the Parallel Lives of drawing his readers into the process of moral evaluation and exposing them to the complexities entailed in it. Subjects discussed include Plutarch's prefatory projection of himself and his readers and the interaction between the two; Plutarch's presentation of the mental and emotional workings of historical agents, which serves to re-enact



the participants' experience at the time and thus arouse empathy in the readers; Plutarch's closural strategies and their profound effects on the readers' moral inquiry; Plutarch's principles of historical criticism in On the malice of Herodotus in relation to his narrative strategies in the Lives. Through illustrating Plutarch's narrative technique, this book elucidates Plutarch's praise-and-blame rhetoric in the Lives as well as his sensibility to the challenges inherent in recounting, reading about, and evaluating the lives of the great men of history.