Classical and Modern Interactions - Postmodern Architecture, Multiculturalism, Decline, and Other Issues

Informationen zum Autor Karl Galinsky is Floyd A. Cailloux Centennial Professor of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin. Klappentext Postmodernism, multiculturalism, the alleged decline of the United States, deconstruction, leadership, and values-these topics have been at the forefront of contemporary intellectual and cultural debate and are likely to remain so for the near future. Participants in the debate can usefully enlarge the perspective to a comparison between the Greco-Roman world and contemporary society. In this thought-provoking work, a noted classics scholar tests the ancient-modern comparison, showing what it can add to the contemporary debates and what its limitations are.Writing for intellectually adventurous readers, Galinsky explores Greece and Rome as multicultural societies, debates the merits of classicism in postmodern architecture, discusses the reign of Augustus in terms of modern leadership theories, and investigates the modern obsession with finding parallels between the supposed "decline and fall" of Rome and the "decay" of U.S. society.Within these discussions, Galinsky shows the continuing vitality of the classical tradition in the contemporary world. The Greek and Roman civilizations have provided us not only with models for conscious adaptation but also points for radical departures. This ability to change and innovate from classical models is crucial, Galinsky maintains. It creates a reciprocal process whereby contemporary issues are projected into the past while aspects of the ancient world are redefined in terms of current approaches.These essays result in a balanced assessment and stimulating restatement of some major issues in both contemporary U.S. society and the Greco-Roman world. The book, which speaks to a wide interdisciplinary audience, is based on a series of lectures that Galinsky gave as a national visiting scholar for Phi Beta Kappa. It concludes with a discussion of the role of classical studies in the United States today. Inhaltsverzeichnis PrefaceI. Classicism in Postmodern American Architecture Classicism and ModernismThree Pioneering ExamplesThe Conceptual FrameworkDomestic ArchitectureCommercial BuildingsCampus ArchitectureLarge Public BuildingsSome ImplicationsShort Bibliography and Suggestions for Further ReadingII. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Are There Modern Parallels? Some General Definitions and Perspectives“Decadence”Single-Cause ExplanationsThe Explanations of the Intellectual Historians“Immoderate Greatness” and “Imperial Overstretch”America and Rome: Some ComparisonsShort Bibliography and Suggestions for Further ReadingAppendix: 210 Reasons for Rome’s FallIII. Reading Vergil’s Aeneid in Modern Times “Modern” and “Historical” InterpretationSome Points of Convergence and DivergenceAeneas and Modern Concepts of MasculinitySocial Responsibility: Vergil, Aeneas, and Vaclav HavelDistrust of Rhetoric in the Aeneid and TodayInternal Heroism and Strong EmotionsShort Bibliography and Suggestions for Further ReadingIV. Leadership, Values, and the Question of Ideology: The Reign of Augustus Some Views of AugustusLeadership: The Moral Dimension“Ideology” versus Pragmatism with an EthosTradition and InnovationThe Moral Culture: Architecture and ArtConclusionShort Bibliography and Suggestions for Further ReadingV. Multiculturalism in Greece and Rome Some DefinitionsGreece before AlexanderAlexander the Great and the Hellenistic PeriodRomeMulticulturalism Then and NowSelected Bibliography and Suggestions for Further ReadingVI. Rome, America, and the Classics in America Today America and RomeThe Role of the Classics in America Today: Some Observations Life beyond AcademeClassics in Its Academic SettingTwo Current Issues: Elitism and the Importance of TheoryShort Bibliography and Suggestions for Further ReadingNotesIndex...

Product details

• Authors: Karl Galinsky
• Publisher: University Of Texas Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.02.2013
• EAN: 9780292753983
• ISBN: 978-0-292-75398-3
• No. of pages: 204
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture