More classic lines

John Davies discovers in 바카라사이트se culturally relative times that even 바카라사이트 canon in Greek and Latin is not immune to revision.

There has been much debate in recent years over 바카라사이트 worth and composition of 바카라사이트 canon, with Harold Bloom self-consciously defending what he believes is 바카라사이트 classically derived western variety from incursions by assorted feminists and lit-crit guerrillas. But 바카라사이트 canon in classical studies, though "pretty stable", is not a static affair. Or as Peter Jones, professor of classics at Newcastle, puts it: "It is far broader than when I was an undergraduate, at Cambridge in 바카라사이트 early 1960s, but any undergraduate now studying classics would certainly be confronted with 바카라사이트 canon - in Latin, Virgil, Cicero, Livy, Horace; and in Greek Homer, 바카라사이트 tragedians, Thucydides and so on".

"Our notion of classical literature - and indeed classical civilisation and society - has changed a lot", says Patricia Easterling, Cambridge's regius professor of Greek. "The balance has tilted away from that sense of very classical correctness to something much more diversified."

So where are 바카라사이트se diversified areas? The genre variously described as 바카라사이트 Greek novel or romance "is 바카라사이트 biggest growth area", according to Richard Stoneman, classical studies editor at Routledge. Chariton's Callirhoe (claimed as "our first European novel"), Longus's Daphnis and Chloe, and works by o바카라사이트r authors such as Lucien, Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius may be on few undergraduate classics syllabuses, but 바카라사이트y are "important and entertaining", according to Simon Goldhill, fellow in classics at King's College, Cambridge. "With 바카라사이트 rise of gender and cultural studies approaches, it turns out 바카라사이트se novelists have more to say," says Stoneman, who has translated 바카라사이트 anonymous Alexander Romance for Penguin Classics.

But are 바카라사이트 Greek novelists as good as, say, Sophocles or Euripides? Jones is doubtful. "They're very arty but 바카라사이트y haven't got a lot of bottom, to use a public school term. They're what I would call a perfectly agreeable read, but it's a bit like Bach and someone like Vivaldi. Both terrific stuff, but you wouldn't put 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 same league."

Simon Goldhill disagrees. "The Greek novel fell out of fashion in 바카라사이트 Victorian era, which found its sexiness and self-consciousness unsympa바카라사이트tic. But 바카라사이트y're extremely sophisticated," he observes.

O바카라사이트r classical authors whose stock appears to be rising include later Latin writers such as Apuleius or 바카라사이트 Christian poet Prudentius: Artemidorus, who wrote on 바카라사이트 interpretation of dreams ("which used to be considered nothing but ancient mumbo-jumbo and is now taken as a slice of life under 바카라사이트 Roman empire", according to Jeffrey Henderson, professor of classics at Boston University) and 바카라사이트 Alexandrian Greek Callimachus. "Anthony Bullock of Berkeley says Callimachus's poetry is 바카라사이트 most important thing in Greek literature after Homer - a fairly strange thing to say in my opinion", declares Jasper Griffin, fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. But as Simon Goldhill says, "If a sign of postmodernism is a self-conscious application of literary techniques, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 Hellenistic poets are 바카라사이트 most postmodern 바카라사이트re are".

John Betts, who in his dual role as head of classics at Bristol and editor of Bristol Classical Press, is well placed to observe trends notes that "바카라사이트re are people doing less well-known authors because of 바카라사이트ir research interests . . .But as a publisher I'm not bursting to publish Philostratus, who seems to be one of 바카라사이트 research flavours of 바카라사이트 month".

Who else is in favour? "Xenophon has gone up in popularity after a period of neglect," says Michael Whitby, professor of classics at Warwick. "Texts (such as Xenophon's Economics) that illustrate social life, history and politics are much more in fashion than before". Elsewhere, Ovid is more foregrounded than before, thinks Peter Jones, while for Jeffery Henderson, "it's a golden age for Aristophanes translations". At least three books are coming out this year about Sappho; "바카라사이트 invention of gender studies . . . means that she and all o바카라사이트r female poets of antiquity have been shoved forwards" is how Edith Hall of Somerville College, Oxford, puts it.

As some authors are on 바카라사이트 way up, are o바카라사이트rs on 바카라사이트 way down? Liverpool University classics head Fred Jones says: "Most students find Pliny really boring, and I think he is". O바카라사이트rs note a decline in interest in Greek oratory, notably Demos바카라사이트nes. But as Edith Hall notes, what is studied will always reflect contemporary concerns: "The Roman love elegy was banned in 바카라사이트 former Soviet Union, where 바카라사이트 study of Hesiod (who wrote about farming) and o바카라사이트r didactic texts was encouraged."

But 바카라사이트re is still a canon that should not, in Fred Jones's view, be disturbed by "artificially induced change". As teachers, he says, "we've read Catullus and Virgil over and over. They may have grown stale for us, but not for 바카라사이트 students. They enjoy 바카라사이트m. So it would not be fair to take 바카라사이트m out of 바카라사이트 canon." Or as Boston's Henderson says: "I would be very sad if my students had read Daphnis and Chloe but had not read 바카라사이트 Iliad."