Rövid leírás:
Literary Territories argues that the literature of Late Antiquity shared a defining aesthetic sensibility which treated the classical „inhabited world,” the oikoumene, as a literary metaphor for the collection and organization of knowledge.
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Hosszú leírás:
Literary Territories introduces readers to a wide range of literature from 200-900 CE in which geography is a defining principle of literary art. From accounts of Holy Land pilgrimage, to Roman mapmaking, to the systematization of Ptolemy’s scientific works, Literary Territories argues that forms of literature that were conceived and produced in very different environments and for different purposes in Late Antiquity nevertheless shared an aesthetic sensibility which treated the classical „inhabited world,” the oikoumene, as a literary metaphor for the collection and organization of knowledge. This type of „cartographical thinking” stresses the world of knowledge that is encapsulated in the literary archive. The archival aesthetic coincided with an explosion of late antique travel and Christian pilgrimage which in itself suggests important unifying themes between visual and textual conceptions of space. Indeed, by the end of Late Antiquity the geographical mode appears in nearly every type of writing in multiple Christian languages (Greek, Latin, Syriac, Armenian, and others). The diffusion of cartographical thinking throughout the real-world oikoumene, now the Christian Roman Empire, was a fundamental intellectual trajectory of Late Antiquity.
Readers will appreciate J.’s sound scholarship, attention to detail, and not least, clarity. Each chapter is helpfully concluded with a summary of the key points, so that the reader is effectively prepared to press on to the next stage of this compelling journey. What makes Literary Territories truly distinctive, however, is the combination of multi-lingual sources and the pairing of well-known case studies (e.g. the Bordeaux pilgrim and Egeria’s accounts) with less well-known ones (such as The Miracles of Saint Thekla and the Syrian accounts of Thomas of Marga and Isho’dnah of Basra). Critical and illuminating, at times even revisionist, Literary Territories is a scholarly contribution of fundamental importance. Beyond Late Antique specialists, it will appeal to classicists, medievalists, as well as historical geographers, map historians, and anyone interested in pre-modern perceptions of space.
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Tartalomjegyzék:
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1 Pilgrimage and Archive
Chapter 2 An Aesthetic of Accumulation
Chapter 3 Locus Amoenus / Loca Sancta
Chapter 4 Apostolic Geography
Chapter 5 The Westwardness of Things
Conclusion
Appendix Astrological, Astronomical, Cosmographical, Geographical, and Topographical Texts in Greek, Latin, and Syriac from 0 to 700 CE
Works Cited
