Antiquity Now
The Classical World in the Contemporary American Imagination

This book examines the surprising uses, and abuses, of the classical world in contemporary popular media.

Thomas E. Jenkins (Author)

9780521196260, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 May 2015

262 pages, 25 b/w illus.
25.4 x 18.1 x 1.7 cm, 0.68 kg

'Every college library needs this book, as does everyone interested in classical reception, and every classicist should join Jenkins in reflecting how the classics still matter in popular culture.' Clayton Miles Lehmann, University of South Dakota

Written in a lively and accessible style, Antiquity Now opens our gaze to the myriad uses and abuses of classical antiquity in contemporary fiction, film, comics, drama, television - and even internet forums. With every chapter focusing on a different aspect of classical reception - including sexuality, politics, gender and ethnicity - this book explores the ideological motivations behind contemporary American allusions to the classical world. Ultimately, this kaleidoscope of receptions - from calls for marriage equality to examinations of gang violence to passionate pleas for peace (or war) - reveals a 'classical antiquity' that reconfigures itself daily, as modernity explains itself to itself through ever-expanding technologies and media. Antiquity Now thus examines the often-surprising redeployment of the art and literature of the ancient world, a geography charged with especial value in the contemporary imagination.

1. Introduction
2. It's Greek to them: gay and lesbian receptions of the ancient world
3. Classics and ideology
4. September 11th on the Western stage
5. From the borders: contemporary identity, community, and the ancient world
6. Power, the canon, and the unexpected voice
Conclusion: on fractures and fracturing.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Historiography [HBAH], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]