ENGLISH

The End of Dialogue in Antiquity

By Simon Goldhill

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2009
ISBN
0521887747, 9780521887748
LCC
B105.D48 E53 2008
Open Library ID
OL22560200M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1705502 bytes)
Edition
1
Pages
274\276
Topic
History
Time added
2011-04-18 11:31:18

Description

'Dialogue' was invented as a written form in democratic Athens and made a celebrated and popular literary and philosophical style by Plato. Yet it almost completely disappeared in the Christian empire of late antiquity. This book, the first general and systematic study of the genre in antiquity, asks: who wrote dialogues and why? Why did dialogue no longer attract writers in the later period in the same way? Investigating dialogue goes to the heart of the central issues of power, authority, openness and playfulness in changing cultural contexts. This book analyses the relationship between literary form and cultural authority in a new and exciting way, and encourages closer reflection about the purpose of dialogue in its wider social, cultural and religious contexts in today's world.

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