Classical reception studies

Classical reception studies is the study of how the classical world, especially Ancient Greek literature and Latin literature, have been received since antiquity. It is the study of the portrayal and representation of the ancient world from ancient to modern times. The nature of reception studies is highly interdisciplinary, including literature, art, music, and film. The field of study has, within the past few decades, become an increasingly popular and legitimized topic of interest in Classical studies. Prior to the 2000s, classical reception was not widely accepted as a genuine or rigorous discipline.[1][2]

History

This area of study was first, and historically considered a subset of the classical tradition.[3] Before reception gained interest, the classical tradition was discussed and popularized in the 1920s.[3] While the classical tradition mainly focuses on how and why Classics fit into the modern world, the term reception now encompasses classical traditions, with a wide range over the interplay between the cultures that draw inspiration from classical societies and the past itself.[4] Due to the nature of classical reception, which was heavily influenced by reception theory, classical reception theory departs from the classical tradition in various ways.[3]

Tradition tends to put a premium on continuity, the simple passing down of one influence to another, the context that informed some earlier material. [5] Reception, on the other hand, stresses the mediated, situated, contingent character of readings, and the concept that there is no final, correct meaning for any text.[6] Charles Martindale, a pioneer in classical reception, stated that "our current interpretations of ancient texts, whether or not we are aware of it, are, in complex ways, constructed by the chain of receptions through which their continued readability has been effected. As a result we cannot get back to any originary meaning wholly free of subsequent accretions."[7] Classical texts are not simply handed down, as implied by the Classical Tradition, but are in fact transformed as they are passed along.[8]

While scholars generally agree that classical reception differs from the classical tradition,[7] the term classical reception has a variety of definitions. Classical reception scholar Johanna Hanink defines classical reception as "how the ancient past is visibly interwoven in the fabric of the present moment."[9] The Open University's Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry in English project adds that "classical receptions also involves analysis of the mediating aspects, such as translation, scholarship, cultural narratives (oral, written and performed) and the artistic and literary practices that create these."[10]

Definition

Lorna Hardwick and Christopher Stray assert that Classical reception studies is devoted to examining "the ways in which Greek and Roman material has been transmitted, translated, excerpted, interpreted, rewritten, re-imaged and represented."[11] Martindale notes that Classical reception "encompasses all work concerned with postclassical material."[2]

Hardwick has also previously defined classical reception as "the artistic or intellectual processes involved in selecting, imitating or adapting ancient works," but which also treats display and viewing as active processes.[12]

Hardwick and Stray state that scholars of reception studies hold the relationship between the ancient and modern to be reciprocal, although they acknowledge that others believe that reception studies only shed light on the receiving society, and not on the ancient text or its context.[13] Although reception theory originated from Hans Robert Jauss in the late 1960s, Classicists had been about 30 years later to officially adopt the term.[14] Wide-scale acceptance did not occur until 2009, with the launch of Oxford's on-line periodical, the Classical Receptions Journal.[1]

Ukrainian scholar Vitalii Turenko emphasizes that Classical Reception Studies manifests itself as a reconceptualization of Antic Studies and therefore is as an interdisciplinary field, which focuses on the study of the receptions of Antiquity. This area is specific in its sphere of interest – not only philosophical heritage of a certain period, but also literary, historical and other sources. Such aspect of classical reception studies are important as it contributes to thorough and fundamental studies of the history of Ukrainian philosophy because the ancient philosophical heritage was at the center of reflections on Ukrainian philosophy from Kievan Rus' to the present day. Therefore, we see the importance of domestic scientific studies devoted to the study of the receptions of antiquity in general and in the history of Ukrainian philosophy in particular. The latter can help to more understand the specifics of the formation and development of the philosophical tradition in Ukraine.Classical reception studies can be a specific historical and philosophical method of research of ancient philosophical heritage, along with other methods such as doxography, rational and historical reconstruction, etc. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that it can incorporate elements of doxography, as well as rational reconstruction or other historical and philosophical methods alone or together. He`s argues that in the context of classical reception studies, ancient philosophical texts can become a basis for solving contemporary global or local problems and issues of humanity (political, social, cultural, etc.). The potential of ancient texts and fragments (including philosophical ones) is important not only for understanding the past, but also in relation to the developments of society in the present [15]

See also

References
  1. Tatum, James (2014). "A Real Short Introduction to Classical Reception Theory". Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics. 22 (2): 79. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  2. Martindale, Charles (2006). "Introduction: Thinking Through Reception". In Martindale, Charles; Thomas, Richard F. (eds.). Classics and the Uses of Reception. Maldon and Oxford: Blackwell. p. 1.
  3. Budelmann, Felix; Haubold, Johannes (2008). "Reception and Tradition". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). A Companion to Classical Receptions. Malden, MA: Blackwell. p. 1. doi:10.1002/9780470696507.ch1. ISBN 9780470696507.
  4. Budelmann, Felix; Haubold, Johannes (2008). "Reception and Tradition". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). A Companion to Classical Receptions. Malden, MA: Blackwell. p. 2. doi:10.1002/9780470696507.ch1. ISBN 9780470696507.
  5. Budelmann, Felix; Haubold, Johannes (2008). "Reception and Tradition". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). A Companion to Classical Receptions. Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. 4–6. doi:10.1002/9780470696507.ch1. ISBN 9780470696507.
  6. Martindale, Charles (2006). "Introduction: Thinking Through Reception". In Martindale, Charles; Thomas, Richard F. (eds.). Classics and the Uses of Reception. Maldon and Oxford: Blackwell. p. 3.
  7. Martindale, Charles (1993). Redeeming the Text: Latin Poetry and the Hermeneutics of Reception. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 7. ISBN 9780521417174.
  8. Kallendorf, Craig (2017). "Foreword". In Hunt, Jeffrey; Smith, R. Alden; Stok, Fabio (eds.). Classics From Papyrus to the Internet: An Introduction to Transmission and Reception. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 2. ISBN 9781477313015.
  9. Hanink, Johanna (1 May 2017). "It's Time to Embrace Critical Classical Reception". Eidolon. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  10. "Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry in English from c.1970 to the Present". The Open University. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  11. Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (2008). "Introduction: Making Conceptions". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). A Companion to Classical Receptions. Maldon and Oxford: Blackwell. p. 1.
  12. Hardwick, Lorna (2009). Reception studies. Published for the Classical Association by Oxford University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-19-852865-4.
  13. Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (2008). "Introduction: Making Conceptions". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). A Companion to Classical Receptions. Maldon and Oxford: Blackwell. p. 4.
  14. Tatum, James (2014). "A Real Short Introduction to Classical Reception Theory". Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics. 22 (2): 80.
  15. Turenko, Vitalii (2020). "Classical reception studies: from philosophical texts to applied Classics". Filosofska Dumka. 2 (2): 45.
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