Homer, Virgil, and the Rest of Us
When I find myself in a bookstore, I always head first toward the classics section. I will be the first to admit that pulp fiction is a faster read, and the books are cheaper. But there is a love inside of me for opening a classic piece of literature that I know has inspired other writers throughout the ages.
St. Stephen’s University’s Lit.150 survey has just finished with the Aeniad and the general consensus amongst students in the first year course suggest that it is very interesting, very well written, but altogether too long. Yowch. But that is the same opinion I held when I took the course, so maybe that is a normal feeling.
But Virgil, Homer, these are the people who have inspired writing for the last few millenia! What an amazing accomplishment.
When philosophers begin to study, they eventually find themselves back at the classic philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. Artists cannot escape studying the masters of the High Rennaisance like Michelangelo and Botticelli. And writers and lovers of literature cannot detach themelves from the heroes of their field.
Who do you look to as a master, as an inspiration in your field of interest?
3 Comments
When I enter a new bookstore I also head to the classics section first. I find that one of the marks of good bookstore is that they usually have a solid collection in the classics. My second test is to ask a question about a specific translation of, say, Homer. If they can give a satisfactory answer I’ll almost always buy something.
As for a master/inspiration in my particular field of interest. Well, I’m an American Studies major so my outlook is almost always interdisciplinary. I’ll give a few masters from various fields.
American Writers: the Transcendentalists (Emerson, Thoreaux etc.), Henry james (one of the masters of fiction), Fitzgerald, Nabokov, and Toni Morrison)
Film: Hitchcock!
(Cultural) Theory: Mad props to Foucault and Derrida (oh and Adorno). Though I don’t particularly like reading them, their insights and influence are not to be underestimated.
JeroenR, I feel you on Derrida and Foucault. Throw in Lyotard and we could be cousins or something. They opened the debate in a way that it needed to be opened. But like you said, it can be tough reading, especially Foucault. It seems he took his absense of meaning theories to heart, seemingly contracting life-ending illnesses on purpose to demonstrate that his life had no meaning. That’s pretty bleak.
I like the idea of asking the bookstore employee a loaded question. Good idea.
Where are you from? What are some of the good bookstores there?
Well I’m from the The Netherlands, where I find decent bookstores are few and far between. I demand good foreign language sections, but those are hard to find. As a literature lover your best bet is to go to a university town and go look for the independent (and used) bookstores.
On Lyotard… So far I’ve only read about Lyotard, but have managed to avoid reading anything by him. Are there any texts you would particularly recommend?