Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T22:27:35.221Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Ancient readers

from Part IV - Reception

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2008

Tim Whitmarsh
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

“POET O anxieties of mankind! O how great is the emptiness in matter! / BYSTANDER Who will read this? / POET Are you talking to me? No one, by Hercules. / BYSTANDER No one? / POET One or two people, or no one. / BYSTANDER A shameful and wretched outcome.” (Persius, Satires 1.1-3) / 'Who read this?' is a question which scholars of the ancient novel, perhaps more than those engaged with any other Greek or Roman literary form, have persistently and anxiously posed. The opening of Persius' first Satire, a poem that may close with one of the very few references in literature of the high classical period to one of the extant Greek novels, ought to make us ask 'Does it matter?' We might, however, first consider why the Greek (in particular) novel has attracted this special anxiety about readership - and why it does indeed matter.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Ancient readers
  • Edited by Tim Whitmarsh, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel
  • Online publication: 28 June 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521865906.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Ancient readers
  • Edited by Tim Whitmarsh, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel
  • Online publication: 28 June 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521865906.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Ancient readers
  • Edited by Tim Whitmarsh, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel
  • Online publication: 28 June 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521865906.015
Available formats
×