Beyond Greek: The Beginnings of Latin Literature

A History Today Best Book of the Year A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Horace, and other authors of ancient Rome are so firmly established in the Western canon today that the birth of Latin literature seems inevitable. Yet, Denis Feeney boldly argues, the beginnings of Latin literature were anything but inevitable. The cultural flourishing that in time produced the Aeneid, the Metamorphoses, and other Latin classics was one of the strangest events in history. "Feeney is to be congratulated on his willingness to put Roman literary history in a big comparative context It is a powerful testimony to the importance of Denis Feeney's work that the old chestnuts of classical literary history-how the Romans got themselves Hellenized, and whether those jack-booted thugs felt anxiously belated or smugly domineering in their appropriation of Greek culture for their own purposes-feel fresh and urgent again." -Emily Wilson, Times Literary Supplement "[Feeney's] bold theme and vigorous writing render Beyond Greek of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and literature of the classical world." -The Economist

About the Author :
Denis Feeney is Giger Professor of Latin at Princeton University.

Review :
A magisterial and innovative study of the beginnings of Latin literature. It is sure to get noticed, to provoke, and to rankle. It will be the standard, go-to book on the topic for many years to come. Feeney does not hold back. By putting Roman literature into a global context, Denis Feeney shows that the Romans, far from being cultural imitators, were actually the innovators of a new form of cultural transmission. This is the study of world literature at its finest. Beyond Greek is a string of revelations about how the Romans busied themselves building a new literature for their new position on the world stage. It takes all the familiar characterizations of ancient Roman literature—as parvenu, as derivative, as a series of ham-handed imitations of a superior culture—and turns them inside-out in some wonderfully thoughtful ways. [Feeney’s] bold theme and vigorous writing render Beyond Greek of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and literature of the classical world. Feeney is to be congratulated on his willingness to put Roman literary history in a big comparative context… It is a powerful testimony to the importance of Denis Feeney’s work that the old chestnuts of classical literary history—how the Romans got themselves Hellenized, and whether those jack-booted thugs felt anxiously belated or smugly domineering in their appropriation of Greek culture for their own purposes—feel fresh and urgent again. Manages to make strange an entire narrative of Western literature. It takes an origin myth accepted as logical, ‘the creation of a Roman literature on Greek models,’ and through its patient, stylish, precise investigation demonstrates how in fact this was ‘one of the strangest and most unlikely events in Mediterranean history,’ a phenomenon of pure contingency. Formidably learned, but at the same time an exceptionally good read…Feeney shows mid-third century BC Romans undertaking a deliberate project of refashioning their world within international cultural networks. In so doing, he illustrates the value of cultural openness and multilingualism and the role of ‘cultural brokers.’ Committed supporters of an international outlook will find much of relevance here.