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Book Cover
E-book
Author Reitz-Joosse, Bettina, author.

Title Building in words : the process of construction in Latin literature / Bettina Reitz-Joosse
Published New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]
©2021

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Description 1 online resource : illustrations (chiefly color)
Series Classical culture and society
Classical culture and society.
Summary "Building in Words explores the relation between text and architecture in the Roman world from a new angle. Ancient Roman viewers were not only confronted with finished monuments, but also frequently with buildings under construction. They experienced noisy building work, disruptive transportation of materials, and sometimes spectacular engineering feats. This book analyses how Roman writers responded to the process of building and construction in their works. For Roman authors, telling stories of architectural creation served to give meaning to finished monuments. Representing a building's construction might encourage admiration of its artistry, cost, or labour. On the other hand, it could also highlight morally problematic aspects of construction, especially in connection with large-scale engineering projects. In offering descriptions of the process of creating architecture, writers also reflect on the creation of their own works. The metaphor of construction for literary composition is polyvalent: writers use it to comment on the aesthetics or ambition of their literary work, to articulate the power and durability, but also the fragility of literature. This monograph places literary texts of the early Roman empire in dialogue with epigraphic and archaeological material. Through its focus on the process of building, it furthers our understanding of the aesthetics of both architecture and literature in ancient Rome"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on August 18, 2022)
Subject Architecture in literature.
Building in literature
Latin literature -- History and criticism
Architecture and literature -- Rome
Architectural inscriptions -- Rome
Architecture and literature.
Architectural inscriptions
Architecture and literature
Architecture in literature
Latin literature
Rome (Empire)
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2021029468
ISBN 9780197610718
0197610714
9780197610695
0197610692
9780197610701
0197610706