Classics in Britain
Scholarship, Education, and Publishing 1800-2000
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:18th Oct '18
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This unique volume summarizes and reflects the work of a leading voice in the history of Classics in Britain, bringing together both previously published articles, now newly revised, and never before published work. Topics range from the school classroom to the politics of universities, and from the social uses of classical knowledge to the publishing of textbooks: although the volume as a whole maintains a particular focus on the role of books and journals in the reception of Classics, the chapters also draw on anecdotal and documentary sources to offer a vivid exploration of the more obscure corners of the world of nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholars, teachers, and pupils. The book is divided into three parts, the first of which illustrates the utility of comparative analysis of institutions, focusing on Oxford and Cambridge in particular; the second looks at the transformative role of printing and publishing, and at the history of the Hellenic Society (1879) and the Classical Association (1903), in relation to the changing place of Classics in British society. The third focuses on pedagogy, examining textbooks and classroom activity and stressing the dialectical nature of reception, as evidenced by the resistance of pupils to their teachers' lessons. Engaging and insightful in isolation, together they offer an expansive and unparalleled overview of the history and sociology of classical education and scholarship between 1800 and 2000.
...the eighteen essays collected here, all but two previously published, unfold a record of past practices and the larger debates they engendered that offer much-needed perspective on our current travails...an invaluable resource as we look to our past for help in shaping our future. * Sander M. Goldberg, University of California, The Classical Journal *
[Stray] has extensively researched the history of textbooks, and there is much curious detail here. * John Taylor, University of Manchester, The Journal of Roman Studies *
Classics in Britain constitutes another clear and bright beam through the often opaque history of British Classics as a scholarly discipline.... Perhaps the most precious feature of Stray's magisterial tome is his finely tuned ear to the periods' witty or ridiculous turns of phrase, his keen eye for enriching but not overburdening detail, and the occasional oddball fact, all of which make his writing about let's face it often austere, sometimes dry, subject matter both impressively learned and amusingly human. * Emma Bridges and Henry Stead, Greece & Rome *
Over the past thirty years or so Christopher Stray has made himself uniquely expert in what might be called the sociology of British Classics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries... One of the merits (and charms) of Stray's work is his ability to find unusual ways of looking at things... Stray offers a thickness of detail through which a larger idea of British classical studies is well conveyed. * Richard Jenkyns, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
ISBN: 9780199569373
Dimensions: 241mm x 163mm x 31mm
Weight: 764g
412 pages