Experience and Teleology in Ancient Historiography (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781107040281)

The past is narrated in retrospect. Historians can either capitalize on the benefit of hindsight and give their narratives a strongly teleological design or they may try to render the past as it was experienced by historical agents and contemporaries. This book explores the fundamental tension between experience and teleology in major works of Greek and Roman historiography, biography and autobiography. The combination of theoretical reflections with close readings yields a new, often surprising assessment of the history of ancient historiography as well as a deeper understanding of such authors as Thucydides, Tacitus and Augustine. While much recent work has focused on how ancient historians use emplotment to generate historical meaning, Experience and Teleology in Ancient Historiography offers a new approach to narrative form as a mode of coming to grips with time.

Author: Jonas Grethlein
ISBN-10: 1107040280
ISBN-13: 9781107040281
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/31/2014
Pages: 436
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.80lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.40w x 1.10d