Ralph Hexter - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ralph Hexter
Speculum, Jul 1, 2003
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
launches his "Acknowledgments" (ix-x) with these words: For some, disputes over the meaning of Ca... more launches his "Acknowledgments" (ix-x) with these words: For some, disputes over the meaning of Catholic theology are historical exercises like any other. They have just the interest of disputes over the doctrines of other Mediterranean religions now generally disbelieved, say Mithraism or Manichaeism. For others of us, disputes over Catholic theology remain urgent.(ix) Not the least of Jordan's bold maneuvers in this important book is the "of us" of the third sentence. This is not self-advertisement or-indulgence but intrinsically linked with the strong argument of the book. As he contends, and equally if not more forcefully shows by doing, the act of taking a position-all too often done in ignorance or in bad faith, unconsciously or hypocritically-is the essential first step in the staging of any argument as it is in the performing of any analysis. That Jordan is "out" about his identification as both Catholic and gay-the "us" could include either or both-and open about the position from which he writes The Invention of Sodomy strengthens the value of his findings and arguments for both groups of readers.
Now that we have (or have had) "New History," "New Philology," and "New Latin," it seems inevitab... more Now that we have (or have had) "New History," "New Philology," and "New Latin," it seems inevitable that even within that subset of studies of Classical Nachleben we produce "New Reception Studies." Reception history as well as the concomitant reception aesthetics were themselves new not so very long ago. What was new about them is their reversal of some traditional poles of literary history. Instead of suggesting, explicitly or implicitly, that the ancient author "influenced" later readers, students of reception focus on the intellectual context(s) of the recipients and what they make of the author(s) they read. This point is now old. And yet, why is it that we come back again and again to organizing even our receptive studies around the major authors, usually taken one-by-one? I think this bespeaks not so much nostalgia for old-style "influence" studies as it is an organizational strategy. Reception is cumulative. And while medieval readers of, say, Virgil's Aeneid (to take a random example) are reading it against their reading of Ovid and their reading of Christian scriptures, the principal intertexts-for there is interpretive intertextuality, too-cluster around other readers and readings of the Aeneid. A Vergilian image might be the shades that cluster around a living visitor to the underworld; that this is also a Dantean image only proves my point. A more modern analogy (and for this venue particularly apt) might be an internet chat room extended across time. In unpacking the discourse that for over a millennium occurs around and about the Aeneid," Baswell is serving as our guide in that notional and often interactive space. Of course all the participants are, whether singly or in groups, involved in other networks and bring those elements to our Virgil line. However, in tracking and tracing the myriad intersecting nets that pop onto and pop out of (the latter usually only temporarily) the interactive Virgil space, Baswell is offering us a more sophisticated version of reception studies.
Medieval Academy of America Appollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations. ... more Medieval Academy of America Appollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations. by Elizabeth Archibald Review by: Ralph J. Hexter Speculum, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Apr., 1994), pp. 411-413 Published by: Medieval Academy of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2865089 . Accessed: 13/11/2013 14:55 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Medieval Academy of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Speculum. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.120.117.39 on Wed...
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
Speculum, 1987
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
The Classical Journal, 2003
Poets and Critics Read Vergil Ed. by Sarah Spence. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2... more Poets and Critics Read Vergil Ed. by Sarah Spence. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001. Pp. xx + 216. ISBN 0-300-08376-9. In 1995 Sarah Spence invited three poets and three classicists to participate in a symposium on Vergil. This volume represents that initial experience in print form. Spence expanded it to twelve chapters distributed across three unequal sections. Perhaps we are to think of Vergil's three main works (Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid), and twelve is the number of books in the Aeneid. But it seems to me more as if we had twelve eclogues, twelve different vocalized scenes -- some true dialogues, some monologues, one a round- table. And like the Eclogues, it is perhaps best appreciated by connoisseurs of Vergil. This collection is not for those who are first-time readers of the Latin poet. The pieces are highly variable in quality. With all due respect for the brilliance and love Spence and Robert Fagles bring to Vergil's poetry, their conversation (pp...
Radical History Review, 1995
The Medieval Review 99.05.02 Jordan, Mark D. The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology. The C... more The Medieval Review 99.05.02 Jordan, Mark D. The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology. The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 199. Pp. x, 190. $24.95 (PB). ISBN: 0-226-41039-0. Reviewed by: Ralph Hexter University of California at Berkeley hexter@socrates.berkeley.edu Mark Jordan launches his Acknowledgments (ix-x) with these words: For some, disputes over the meaning of Catholic theology are historical exercises like any other. They have just the interest of disputes over the doctrines of other Mediterranean religions now generally disbelieved, say Mithraism or Manichaeism. For others of us, disputes over Catholic theology remain urgent.(ix) Not the least of Jordan's bold maneuvers in this important book is the of us of the third sentence. This is not self-advertisement or -indulgence but intrinsically linked with the strong argument of the book. As he contends, and equally if not more forcefully shows by doing, the act...
Ovid the Illusionist Ovid's Poetics of Illusion by P. Hardie Review by: Ralph Hexter The Clas... more Ovid the Illusionist Ovid's Poetics of Illusion by P. Hardie Review by: Ralph Hexter The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Oct., 2004), pp. 384-388 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3661681 . Accessed: 13/11/2013 18:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Cambridge University Press and The Classical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Classical Review. http://www.jstor.org This...
Speculum, 1987
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
Classical Review, 2004
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
This collection of essays examines receptions of ancient to early modern literary works from arou... more This collection of essays examines receptions of ancient to early modern literary works from around the world that have circulated globally, that is, across time and space. Thus, in one sense, the collection starts with the premise of an enduring and revered cultural past, whether in the East, West, North, or South. The second premise is that the circulation of literature through translation and other forms of reception long predates modern global society. It is hardly a new phenomenon. If anything is new, it is the idea of national literary canons, which have existed just over a 100 years.
Aim of the Series Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies is a new book series focusing on the ... more Aim of the Series Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies is a new book series focusing on the dynamic relations among space, place, and literature. The spatial turn in the humanities and social sciences has occasioned an explosion of innovative, multidisciplinary scholarship in recent years, and geocriticism, broadly conceived, has been among the more promising developments in spatially oriented literary studies. Whether focused on literary geography, cartography, geopoetics, or the spatial humanities more generally, geocritical approaches enable readers to reflect upon the representation of space and place, both in imaginary universes and in those zones where fiction meets reality. Titles in the series include both monographs and collections of essays devoted to literary criticism, theory, and history, often in association with other arts and sciences. Drawing on diverse critical and theoretical traditions, books in the Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies series disclose, analyze, and explore the significance of space, place, and mapping in literature and in the world.
The Journal of Medieval Latin, 2013
The Medieval Review, 1996
Page 1. A Guide to The Odyssey A COMMENTARY ON THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ROBERT FITZGERALD RALPH... more Page 1. A Guide to The Odyssey A COMMENTARY ON THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ROBERT FITZGERALD RALPH HEXTER Page 2. ... Page 6. Preface Following is a guide to The Odyssey keyed to the translation of Robert Fitzgerald. ...
Speculum, Jul 1, 2003
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
launches his "Acknowledgments" (ix-x) with these words: For some, disputes over the meaning of Ca... more launches his "Acknowledgments" (ix-x) with these words: For some, disputes over the meaning of Catholic theology are historical exercises like any other. They have just the interest of disputes over the doctrines of other Mediterranean religions now generally disbelieved, say Mithraism or Manichaeism. For others of us, disputes over Catholic theology remain urgent.(ix) Not the least of Jordan's bold maneuvers in this important book is the "of us" of the third sentence. This is not self-advertisement or-indulgence but intrinsically linked with the strong argument of the book. As he contends, and equally if not more forcefully shows by doing, the act of taking a position-all too often done in ignorance or in bad faith, unconsciously or hypocritically-is the essential first step in the staging of any argument as it is in the performing of any analysis. That Jordan is "out" about his identification as both Catholic and gay-the "us" could include either or both-and open about the position from which he writes The Invention of Sodomy strengthens the value of his findings and arguments for both groups of readers.
Now that we have (or have had) "New History," "New Philology," and "New Latin," it seems inevitab... more Now that we have (or have had) "New History," "New Philology," and "New Latin," it seems inevitable that even within that subset of studies of Classical Nachleben we produce "New Reception Studies." Reception history as well as the concomitant reception aesthetics were themselves new not so very long ago. What was new about them is their reversal of some traditional poles of literary history. Instead of suggesting, explicitly or implicitly, that the ancient author "influenced" later readers, students of reception focus on the intellectual context(s) of the recipients and what they make of the author(s) they read. This point is now old. And yet, why is it that we come back again and again to organizing even our receptive studies around the major authors, usually taken one-by-one? I think this bespeaks not so much nostalgia for old-style "influence" studies as it is an organizational strategy. Reception is cumulative. And while medieval readers of, say, Virgil's Aeneid (to take a random example) are reading it against their reading of Ovid and their reading of Christian scriptures, the principal intertexts-for there is interpretive intertextuality, too-cluster around other readers and readings of the Aeneid. A Vergilian image might be the shades that cluster around a living visitor to the underworld; that this is also a Dantean image only proves my point. A more modern analogy (and for this venue particularly apt) might be an internet chat room extended across time. In unpacking the discourse that for over a millennium occurs around and about the Aeneid," Baswell is serving as our guide in that notional and often interactive space. Of course all the participants are, whether singly or in groups, involved in other networks and bring those elements to our Virgil line. However, in tracking and tracing the myriad intersecting nets that pop onto and pop out of (the latter usually only temporarily) the interactive Virgil space, Baswell is offering us a more sophisticated version of reception studies.
Medieval Academy of America Appollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations. ... more Medieval Academy of America Appollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations. by Elizabeth Archibald Review by: Ralph J. Hexter Speculum, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Apr., 1994), pp. 411-413 Published by: Medieval Academy of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2865089 . Accessed: 13/11/2013 14:55 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Medieval Academy of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Speculum. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.120.117.39 on Wed...
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
Speculum, 1987
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
The Classical Journal, 2003
Poets and Critics Read Vergil Ed. by Sarah Spence. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2... more Poets and Critics Read Vergil Ed. by Sarah Spence. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001. Pp. xx + 216. ISBN 0-300-08376-9. In 1995 Sarah Spence invited three poets and three classicists to participate in a symposium on Vergil. This volume represents that initial experience in print form. Spence expanded it to twelve chapters distributed across three unequal sections. Perhaps we are to think of Vergil's three main works (Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid), and twelve is the number of books in the Aeneid. But it seems to me more as if we had twelve eclogues, twelve different vocalized scenes -- some true dialogues, some monologues, one a round- table. And like the Eclogues, it is perhaps best appreciated by connoisseurs of Vergil. This collection is not for those who are first-time readers of the Latin poet. The pieces are highly variable in quality. With all due respect for the brilliance and love Spence and Robert Fagles bring to Vergil's poetry, their conversation (pp...
Radical History Review, 1995
The Medieval Review 99.05.02 Jordan, Mark D. The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology. The C... more The Medieval Review 99.05.02 Jordan, Mark D. The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology. The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 199. Pp. x, 190. $24.95 (PB). ISBN: 0-226-41039-0. Reviewed by: Ralph Hexter University of California at Berkeley hexter@socrates.berkeley.edu Mark Jordan launches his Acknowledgments (ix-x) with these words: For some, disputes over the meaning of Catholic theology are historical exercises like any other. They have just the interest of disputes over the doctrines of other Mediterranean religions now generally disbelieved, say Mithraism or Manichaeism. For others of us, disputes over Catholic theology remain urgent.(ix) Not the least of Jordan's bold maneuvers in this important book is the of us of the third sentence. This is not self-advertisement or -indulgence but intrinsically linked with the strong argument of the book. As he contends, and equally if not more forcefully shows by doing, the act...
Ovid the Illusionist Ovid's Poetics of Illusion by P. Hardie Review by: Ralph Hexter The Clas... more Ovid the Illusionist Ovid's Poetics of Illusion by P. Hardie Review by: Ralph Hexter The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Oct., 2004), pp. 384-388 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3661681 . Accessed: 13/11/2013 18:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Cambridge University Press and The Classical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Classical Review. http://www.jstor.org This...
Speculum, 1987
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
Classical Review, 2004
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
This collection of essays examines receptions of ancient to early modern literary works from arou... more This collection of essays examines receptions of ancient to early modern literary works from around the world that have circulated globally, that is, across time and space. Thus, in one sense, the collection starts with the premise of an enduring and revered cultural past, whether in the East, West, North, or South. The second premise is that the circulation of literature through translation and other forms of reception long predates modern global society. It is hardly a new phenomenon. If anything is new, it is the idea of national literary canons, which have existed just over a 100 years.
Aim of the Series Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies is a new book series focusing on the ... more Aim of the Series Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies is a new book series focusing on the dynamic relations among space, place, and literature. The spatial turn in the humanities and social sciences has occasioned an explosion of innovative, multidisciplinary scholarship in recent years, and geocriticism, broadly conceived, has been among the more promising developments in spatially oriented literary studies. Whether focused on literary geography, cartography, geopoetics, or the spatial humanities more generally, geocritical approaches enable readers to reflect upon the representation of space and place, both in imaginary universes and in those zones where fiction meets reality. Titles in the series include both monographs and collections of essays devoted to literary criticism, theory, and history, often in association with other arts and sciences. Drawing on diverse critical and theoretical traditions, books in the Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies series disclose, analyze, and explore the significance of space, place, and mapping in literature and in the world.
The Journal of Medieval Latin, 2013
The Medieval Review, 1996
Page 1. A Guide to The Odyssey A COMMENTARY ON THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ROBERT FITZGERALD RALPH... more Page 1. A Guide to The Odyssey A COMMENTARY ON THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ROBERT FITZGERALD RALPH HEXTER Page 2. ... Page 6. Preface Following is a guide to The Odyssey keyed to the translation of Robert Fitzgerald. ...