Inventing the Novel by R Bracht Branham

Inventing the Novel by R Bracht Branham

Inventing the Novel uses the work of the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) to explore the ancient origins of the modern novel. The analysis focuses on one of the most elusive works of classical antiquity, the Satyrica, written by Nero's courtier, Petronius Arbiter (whose singular suicide, described by Tacitus, is as famous as his novel). Petronius was the most lauded ancient novelist of the twentieth century and the Satyrica served as the original model for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), as well as providing the epigraph for T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land (1922), and the basis for Fellini Satyricon (1969). Bakhtin's work on the novel was deeply informed by his philosophical views: if, as a phenomenologist, he is a philosopher of consciousness, as a student of the novel, he is a philosopher of the history of consciousness, and it is the role of the novel in this history that held his attention. This volume seeks to lay out an argument in four parts that supports Bakhtin's sweeping assertion that the Satyrica plays an "immense" role in the history of the novel, beginning in Chapter 1 with his equally striking claim that the novel originates as a new way of representing time and proceeding to the question of polyphony in Petronius and the ancient novel.

Nonetheless, the study is an inspiring contribution to research on the ancient novel in general and Petronius in particular* Ellen Söderblom Saarela, The Classical Review *
This volume is much more than a dynamic reassessment of Bakhtin's explicit and implicit references to Petronius. It is a philosophical and literary-theoretical book in its own right, which will shed light not only on Bakhtinian and Petronian studies but also on the history of the novel, interspersed with brilliant close-readings and amusing and cunning reflections. May the reader enjoy its elegant and concise exposition as much as I did. * Tomás Fernández, Universidad de Buenos Aires - Conicet, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

R. Bracht Branham is the editor of Bakhtin and the Classics (Northwestern University Press, 2002) and The Bakhtin Circle and Ancient Narrative (Barkhuis, 2005), and translator (with Daniel Kinney) of Petronius' Satyrica (University of California Press, 1996). He teaches classics, philosophy, and comparative literature at Emory University.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780198841265
ISBN 10	0198841264
Title	Inventing the Novel
Author	R Bracht Branham
Series	Classics In Theory Series
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2019-11-27
Number of pages	242
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.