During the most recent exam I proctored, I finished
Phrasikleia: An Anthropology of Reading in Ancient Greece, a book recommended to me by Ovid II. In
Phrasikleia, Jasper Svenboro looks at the different conceptions of reading in Ancient Greece beginning with (and primarily focusing on) Archaic grave monument inscriptions (which were central to the second chapter of my thesis). His work is fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I plan on writing an
extensive review tomorrow, but I recommend it to anyone who is interested in literacy in the Ancient World. It makes extensive reference to Plato's
Phaedrus
as well as Derrida's
Dissemination
(which includes "
Plato's Pharmacy" [1], an extensive essay on Plato's
Phaedrus).
While I was at my Alma Mater, I gave Ovid II a copy of
Postmodern Platos: Nietzsche, Heidegger, Gadamer, Strauss, Derrida
as a graduation gift. He thought we should read it together, over skype; an idea to which I heartily agreed. The book is by Catherine Zuckert, the woman who wrote
Plato's Philosophers
(
a work which I discuss so frequently on this blog). I am not yet sure whether it falls within the classics parameters of this blog, but I shall find out.
Coming soon also: the sixth and final installment of "
Dates in the Platonic Corpus" and some translation, probably including
Horace 1.38.
Endnotes
- "Plato's Pharmacy" is a fabulously engaging essay. I highly recommend it. If you don't like the PDF version linked to there (from http://users.polisci.wisc.edu/avramenko/Methods/Derrida_PlatosPharmacy.pdf), there is also a version at Scribd and here. Do read Plato's Phaedrus
first, if you have not read it.
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