This work deals with the personality of the English Cistercian monk and abbot of the 12th century Aelred of Rievaulx and his work "On Spiritual Friendship" (De spirituali amicitia). It aims to analyze Aelred's work in the broader context of Aelred's life, his other works and contemporary theological-philosophical concepts and ideals. It further intends to place him in the tradition of late ancient and medieval reflections on friendship and love with an emphasis on the monastic environment. The author made a translation and analysis of De spirituali amicitia's most important passages and compared them with Aelred's sources and originals. These include among others the work of Marc Tullio Cicero Laelius de amicitia, the writings of St. Ambrose and Augustine and the Bible. The thesis is concluded with an analysis of Aelred's "individuality", which is spread throughout his work and which is interpreted using the current discourse on individuality in the Middle Ages. Therefore, the author tries to define Aelred's place "between tradition and individualism".

Cette étude, qui s'intéresse aux appropriations de l'Antiquité grecque au XXe siècle, se propose d'analyser les impacts de la lecture de Platon sur le développement de la pensée politique et éthique de Hannah Arendt. Notre approche du sujet est historique et philosophique. Premièrement, nous considérerons la toile de fond biographique, intellectuelle et historique de cette lecture. La relation intellectuelle entre Hannah Arendt et Martin Heidegger reçoit une attention particulière, puisque le Platon arendtien présente parfois des similarités avec celui de Heidegger. Nous considérerons également la réception de Platon en Allemagne entre la période de Weimar et l'après-guerre : les lectures idéologiques de l'époque nazie, et le débat autour du statut de Platon en tant qu'ancêtre du totalitarisme, clamé par Karl Popper, ont assombri la réputation philosophique de Platon jusqu'à la fin du XXe siècle. Nous trouvons des échos de ce climat intellectuel particulier dans le traitement de Platon chez Arendt. Dans un deuxième temps, nous examinerons les thèmes et les motifs de la lecture arendtienne en observant minutieusement une sélection d'ouvrages, d'essais, d'ébauches d'Arendt, en plus des notes du Journal de pensée (Denktagebuch) et des extraits de dialogues de Platon sur lesquels s'appuient sa lecture. Arendt déconstruit, transforme, altère et utilise ces textes afin de démontrer que notre tradition de pensée politique s'est édifiée sur un mépris de la politique qui trouve sa source dans la pensée platonicienne. Ce mépris culmine dans la pensée de Marx et le totalitarisme. Mais les réflexions d'Arendt sur la pensée, le jugement et la conscience, et son traitement du cas Eichmann suggère qu'elle s'approprie par moments la pensée de Platon. Des comparaisons avec d'autres penseurs émigrés allemands, qui s'inspirent aussi de Platon et des Grecs pour édifier leur pensée politique, Leo Strauss et Eric Voegelin, vont nous permettre d'affiner notre compréhension du Platon d'Arendt. / This study, which concerns the appropriations of Greek Antiquity in the 20th century, proposes to analyze the impacts of the reading of Plato on the development of Hannah Arendt's political and ethical thought. Our approach of this subject is historical and philosophical. First, we will consider the biographical, intellectual and historical background of this reading. The intellectual relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger receive a special attention, since Arendt's Plato is sometimes similar to the heiddeggerian one. We also consider Platonic reception in Germany between the Weimar period and the postwar era : the ideological readings of the Nazi era, and the debate surrounding Plato's status as the forebearer of totalitarianism, as claimed by Karl Popper, darkened Plato's philosophical reputation until the end of 20th century. We find some echoes of this particular intellectual climax in Arendt's treatment of Plato. Second, we will examine the themes and motives of arendtian reading by scrutinizing a selection of Arendt's books, essays, drafts, and notes from the Denktagebuch, and excerpts from the Platonic dialogues that informs her reading. Arendt deconstructs, transforms, distorts and uses these texts in order to show that our tradition of political thought was founded on a contempt for politics that finds its source in Platonic thought. This contempt culminates in Marx's thought and totalitarianism. But Arendt's reflections on thinking, judgment and conscience, and her treatment of Eichmann's case suggests that she sometimes appropriates Plato. Some comparisons with other German Émigrés thinkers who also reads Plato and the Greeks to inform their political thought, Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, will enhance our understanding of Arendt's Plato.

This dissertation explores how the mythological heroines from Ovid‘s Heroides and Metamorphoses were cataloged, conflated, reconceived, and recontextualized in vernacular literature; in so doing, it joins considerations of voice, authority, and gender with reflections on Tudor technologies of textual reproduction and ideas about the book. In the late medieval and Renaissance eras, Ovid‘s poetry stimulated the imaginations of authors ranging from Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower to Isabella Whitney, William Shakespeare, and Michael Drayton. Ovid‘s characteristic bookishness—his interest in textual revision and his thematization of the physicality and malleability of art in its physical environments—was not lost upon these postclassical interpreters who engaged with his polysemous cast of female characters. His numerous English protégés replicated and expanded Ovid‘s metatextual concerns by reading and rewriting his metamorphic poetry in light of the metaphors through which they understood both established networks of scribal dissemination and emergent modes of printed book production. My study of Greco-Roman tradition and English bibliofictions (or fictive representations of books, their life cycles, and the communication circuits in which they operate) melds literary analysis with the theoretical concerns of book history by focusing on intersections and interactions between physical, metaphorical, and imaginary books. I posit the Tudor book as a site of complex cultural and literary negotiations between real and inscribed, historical and fictional readers, editors, commentators, and authors, and, as my discussion unfolds, I combine bibliographical, historical, and literary perspectives as a means to understanding both the reception of Ovidian poetry in English literature and Ovid‘s place in the history of books. This dissertation thus contributes to a growing body of book history criticism while also modeling a bibliographically enriched approach to the study of late medieval and Renaissance intertextuality.

This dissertation explores how the mythological heroines from Ovid‘s Heroides and Metamorphoses were cataloged, conflated, reconceived, and recontextualized in vernacular literature; in so doing, it joins considerations of voice, authority, and gender with reflections on Tudor technologies of textual reproduction and ideas about the book. In the late medieval and Renaissance eras, Ovid‘s poetry stimulated the imaginations of authors ranging from Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower to Isabella Whitney, William Shakespeare, and Michael Drayton. Ovid‘s characteristic bookishness—his interest in textual revision and his thematization of the physicality and malleability of art in its physical environments—was not lost upon these postclassical interpreters who engaged with his polysemous cast of female characters. His numerous English protégés replicated and expanded Ovid‘s metatextual concerns by reading and rewriting his metamorphic poetry in light of the metaphors through which they understood both established networks of scribal dissemination and emergent modes of printed book production. My study of Greco-Roman tradition and English bibliofictions (or fictive representations of books, their life cycles, and the communication circuits in which they operate) melds literary analysis with the theoretical concerns of book history by focusing on intersections and interactions between physical, metaphorical, and imaginary books. I posit the Tudor book as a site of complex cultural and literary negotiations between real and inscribed, historical and fictional readers, editors, commentators, and authors, and, as my discussion unfolds, I combine bibliographical, historical, and literary perspectives as a means to understanding both the reception of Ovidian poetry in English literature and Ovid‘s place in the history of books. This dissertation thus contributes to a growing body of book history criticism while also modeling a bibliographically enriched approach to the study of late medieval and Renaissance intertextuality.

ix, 267 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / In English literary studies, classical epic poetry is typically regarded as a masculinist genre that imparts and reinforces the values of dominant culture. The Iliad , Odyssey , and Aeneid , after all, were written by men, feature male heroes, and recount the violent events that gave rise to the misogynistic societies of ancient Greece and Rome. Yet, in the twentieth century, women poets have found inspiration for their feminist projects in these ostensibly masculinist poems. The four poets in this study, for example, have drawn from the work of Homer and Virgil to criticize the ways that conventional conceptions of gender identity have impaired both men and women. One might expect, and indeed, most critics argue, that women like H.D., Gwendolyn Brooks, Louise Glück, and Anne Carson invoke their classical predecessors only to reject them and the repressive values that they represent. Close readings of these poets' work, however, demonstrate that, far from dismissing the ancient poems, Helen in Egypt , Annie Allen , Meadowlands , and Autobiography of Red are deeply invested in them, finding in them models for their own social critiques. The work of these four poets emphasizes that the classical epics are not one-dimensional celebrations of violence and traditional masculinity. Indeed, the work of Homer and Virgil expresses anxiety about the misogynistic values of the heroic code to which its warriors adhere, and it urges that war and violence are antithetical to civilized society. In examining the ways that modern women poets have drawn from these facets of the ancient works to condemn the sexism, racism, and heterocentrism of contemporary culture, my dissertation seeks to challenge the characterization of classical epic that prevails in English literary studies and to assert the necessity of understanding the complexity of the ancient texts that inspire modern poets. Taking an intertextual approach, I hope to show that close readings of the classical epics facilitate our understanding of how and why modern women have engaged the work of their ancient predecessors and that this knowledge, in turn, emphasizes that the epic genre is more complex than we have recognized and that its tradition still flourishes. / Committee in charge: Karen Ford, Chairperson, English; Paul Peppis, Member, English; Steven Shankman, Member, English; P. Lowell Bowditch, Outside Member, Classics

The subject of this master’s thesis is depictions of Old Norse mythology and related motifs in the visual arts during the period 1775–1855. The main question of this research is how the motifs were visualized and how the depictions are related to the classical tradition. Three artworks are objects of detailed study: Johann Heinrich Füssli’s painting Thor Battering the Midgaard serpent (1790), Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg’s The death of Balder (1817) and Nils Jacob Blommér’s painting Näcken and the daughters of Ägir (1850). The paintings are compared with literary sources and analyzed in relation to classicism as well as ideas about history and the Old Norse. It is argued that symbols, themes and compositions from the classical tradition, such as the heroic nude, were used by artists to visualize motifs from Old Norse mythology. It is also argued that the depictions, which by previous scholars have been considered primarily classical, are in fact characterized by a resistance against likeness with the Olympic gods and antique costume.

This thesis defines ‘classical lyricism’ as any mode of appropriation of Greek and Latin monodic lyric whereby a poet may develop a wider discourse on poetry. Assuming classical lyricism as an internal category of enquiry, my thesis investigates the presence of Sappho and Catullus as lyric archetypes in Italian and North American poetry of the 20th century. The analysis concentrates on translations and appropriations of Sappho and Catullus in four case studies: Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912) and Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968) in Italy; Ezra Pound (1885-1972) and Anne Carson (b. 1950) in North America. I first trace the poetic reception of Sappho and Catullus in the oeuvres of the four authors separately. I define and evaluate the role of the respective appropriations within each author’s work and poetics. I then contextualise the four case studies within the Italian and North American literary histories. Finally, through the new outlook afforded by the comparative angle of this thesis, I uncover some of the hidden threads connecting the different types of classical lyricism transnationally. The thesis shows that the course of classical lyricism takes two opposite aesthetic directions in Italy and in North America. Moreover, despite the two aesthetic trajectories diverging, I demonstrate that the four poets’ appropriations of Sappho and Catullus share certain topical characteristics. Three out of four types of classical lyricism are defined by a preference for Sappho’s and Catullus’ lyrics which deal with marriage rituals and defloration, patterns of death and rebirth, and solar myths. They stand out as the epiphenomena of the poets’ interest in the anthropological foundations of the lyric, which is grounded in a philosophical function associated with poetry as a quest for knowledge. I therefore ultimately propose that ‘classical lyricism’ may be considered as an independent historical and interpretative category of the classical legacy.

[pt] O Movimento Moderno da arquitetura afirmou-se nas primeiras décadas do século XX como proposta de ruptura radical com o passado, desejando instaurar uma nova estética afinada com o espírito da era industrial. Sem desconsiderar as profundas transformações que a nova linguagem operou na arquitetura, este trabalho busca investigar os possíveis diálogos entre obras modernas e a tradição clássica, tendo em vista edifícios de arquitetos brasileiros. A discussão insere-se no debate recente da historiografia brasileira, que busca abordar a arquitetura moderna sob seus múltipos aspectos, valorizando as qualidades ambivalentes que tornam as obras mais complexas e interessantes, como já vem fazendo há mais tempo a crítica internacional, sobretudo com as interpretações que apontam para as relações de Le Corbusier com a tradição clássica. Dentre as obras destacadas na análise estão a sede do Ministério da Educação e Saúde do Rio de Janeiro (1936), de Lucio Costa e equipe, com consultoria de Le Corbusier; os palácios de Brasília de Oscar Niemeyer (Alvorada, Planalto e Supremo Tribunal Federal, 1957-58); e o edifício da Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo (1962-69), de Vilanova Artigas. A escolha de exemplos representativos e ao mesmo tempo variados da produção brasileira permite compreender as diversas formas com que a arquitetura moderna se relacionou com a tradição clássica, especialmente nos momentos em que desejou corporificar nos edifícios os ideais emblemáticos de seu tempo histórico. / [en] The Modern Movement in Architecture gained ground in the first decades of the 20th Century as a proposal of radical rupture with the past, willing to establish a new aesthetic in tune with the spirit of the industrial era. Not wanting to disregard the deep changes which the new language produced in architecture, this dissertation aims to investigate the possible dialogues between modern works and classical tradition, having in mind buildings of Brazilian architects. The discussion is inserted in the recent debate of Brazilian historiography, which intends to approach the modern architecture taking into account its multiple aspects, highlighting ambivalent qualities which make the works more complex and interesting, as the international critic has been showing for some time, especially with the interpretation that points to the relations between Le Corbusier and the classical tradition. Among the works distinguished in this analysis are the headquarters building of Ministério da Educação e Saúde do Rio de Janeiro (Education and Health Department of Rio de Janeiro, 1936), by Lucio Costa and his team, with consultancy of Le Corbusier; the palaces of Brasília by Oscar Niemeyer (Alvorada, Planalto and Supreme Federal Court, 1957-58) 1957-58) Court and the building of the FAU/USP (College of Architecture and Urbanism of São (College of Architecture and Urbanism of São Paulo University, 1962- 69), by Vilanova Artigas. The choice of representative and, at the same time, varied examples of the Brazilian production allows us to understand the different forms with which the Modern Architecture has established relations with the classical tradition, especially when it aimed to embody in the buildings the emblematic ideals of its historical time.

From the viewpoint of classical reception studies, I am asking what contemporary British art (by, for example, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst, and Mark Wallinger) has to do with the classical tradition – both the art and literature of Greco-Roman antiquity. I have conducted face-to-face interviews with some of the leading artists working in Britain today, including Lucas, Hirst, Wallinger, Marc Quinn, and Gilbert & George. In addition to contemporary art, the thesis focuses on Greco-Roman art and on myths and modes of looking that have come to shape the western art historical tradition – seeking to offer a different perspective on them from that of the Renaissance and neoclassicism. The thesis concentrates on the generation of artists known as the YBAs, or Young British Artists, who came to prominence in the 1990s. These artists are not renowned for their deference to the classical tradition, and are widely regarded as having turned their backs on classical art and its legacies. The introduction asks whether their work, which has received little scholarly attention, might be productively reassessed from the perspective of classical reception studies. It argues that while their work no longer subscribes to a traditional understanding of classical ‘influence’, it continues to depend – for its power and provocativeness – on classical concepts of figuration, realism, and the basic nature of art. Without claiming that the work of the YBAs is classical or classicizing, the thesis sets out to challenge the assumption that their work has nothing to do with ancient art, or that it fails to conform to ancient understandings of what art is. In order to do this, the thesis analyses contemporary works of art through three classical ‘lenses’. Each lens allows contemporary art to be examined in the context of a longer history. The first lens is the concept of realism, as seen in artistic and literary explorations of the relationship between art and life. This chapter uses the myth of Pygmalion’s statue as a way of thinking about contemporary art’s continued engagement with ideas of mimesis and the ‘real’ which were theorised and debated in antiquity. The second lens is corporeal fragmentation, as evidenced by the broken condition of ancient statues, the popular theme of dismemberment in western art, and the fragmentary body in contemporary art. The final chapter focuses on the figurative plaster cast, arguing that contemporary art continues to invoke and reinvent the long tradition of plaster reproductions of ancient statues and bodies. Through each of these ‘lenses’, I argue that contemporary art remains linked, both in form and meaning, to the classical past – often in ways which go beyond the stated intentions of an artist. Contemporary art continues to be informed by ideas and processes that were theorised and practised in the classical world; indeed, it is these ideas and processes that make it deserving of the art label.

La tesi si occupa di verificare l’influenza che i classici greci e latini hanno esercitato su i padri fondatori americani e più in particolare su Thomas Jefferson. La prima sezione tratteggia il contesto universitario e lo studio delle lingue classiche tra seicento e settecento, comprendendo non solo le università inglesi (Oxford e Cambridge) e scozzesi, ma anche i nuovi college nati nelle colonie americane. Tale analisi dei modelli e delle pratiche educative ha permesso, in effetti, di comprendere meglio l’influenza dei classici sui rivoluzionari americani. Nello specifico viene scandagliata a fondo l’educazione ricevuta da Jefferson. Tra i numerosi spunti di studio aperti da codesto argomento, il lavoro si concentra sulle modalità con cui i classici gli furono insegnati, sul suo Commonplace Book (una raccolta di brani tratti in parte da autori antichi letti in giovinezza) e su documentazione epistolare. Quest’ultima è oggetto particolare di studio, allo scopo di scoprire quali opere antiche Jefferson, in età adulta e durante la vecchiaia, lesse e apprezzò. Essendo un collezionista di libri, comprò moltissimi testi classici come dimostrano alcuni suoi manoscritti. Nonostante manchino dati precisi a riguardo, risulta inoltre che Jefferson, benché facesse largo uso di traduzioni, preferiva leggere in originale e che probabilmente abbia letto la maggior parte di questi libri durante il ritiro dalla vita politica. La seconda parte della tesi si concentra, invece, a indagare quanto la sua educazione classica abbia contributo alla formazione della sua personalità e delle sue idee, nonché alla forma stessa del suo pensiero in merito ad alcune tematiche. Lo studio è di conseguenza dedicato all’esperienza umana di Jefferson, in particolare alla sua riflessione sulla morte e sull’eternità, temi fortemente legati alla sua ricezione di idee epicuree e stoiche. Epicureismo e Stoicismo rappresentano, in definitiva, i due sistemi filosofici antichi che hanno maggiormente influenzato la sua personalità e il suo pensiero. / The aim of the present work is to evaluate the impact of the ancient classics on the American Founding Fathers, with a particular focus on Thomas Jefferson. The first section gives a wide portrait of the academic context in which the Founders were educated, comprising not only of Oxford, Cambridge, and the Scottish universities, but also the colonial colleges. The evaluation of the educational practices in use at the time makes it possible to understand better the classical impact on revolutionary Americans. In particular, this analysis studies in depth Jefferson's education. Of the many possible perspectives and approaches to this topic, the present work focuses on the way ancient classics were taught to him, his Commonplace Book, which reports part of the ancient classics he read during his youth, and his correspondence. The latter has been studied especially to understand which other ancient writers he read, valued, and esteemed in his adulthood and old age. As book collector, Jefferson bought an incredible number of ancient classics, as attested by a few manuscripts of his book lists. Despite the dearth of sure evidence, it is very likely that he read the ancient works largely during his retirement. He loved reading them in the original, though he made great use of translations. The second part of this work is dedicated to investigating how Jefferson's classical education contributed to the building of his personality and ideas, as well as how he elaborated specific classical themes in his own life. The study is thus focused on Jefferson's personal human experience, specifically on his reflection on human mortality and the afterlife. These themes, indeed, are strictly linked to his reception of Epicurean and Stoic tenets, the two ancient philosophical systems which had the greatest and most profound impact on Jefferson's personality and thought.