The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius

A completely accessible but thought-provoking 2007 introduction to one of the greatest of Latin poets, Lucretius.

Stuart Gillespie (Edited by), Philip Hardie (Edited by)

9780521612661, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 October 2007

384 pages, 15 b/w illus.
22.8 x 16.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.61 kg

'… one of the most innovative and most successful volumes in a highly successful series, an essential work of reference that could help determine the future direction of Lucretian studies…' Translation and Literature

Lucretius' didactic poem De rerum natura ('On the Nature of Things') is an impassioned and visionary presentation of the materialist philosophy of Epicurus, and one of the most powerful poetic texts of antiquity. After its rediscovery in 1417 it became a controversial and seminal work in successive phases of literary history, the history of science, and the Enlightenment. In this 2007 Cambridge Companion experts in the history of literature, philosophy and science discuss the poem in its ancient contexts and in its reception both as a literary text and as a vehicle for progressive ideas. The Companion is designed both as an accessible handbook for the general reader who wishes to learn about Lucretius, and as a series of stimulating essays for students of classical antiquity and its reception. It is completely accessible to the reader who has only read Lucretius in translation.

Introduction Stuart Gillespie and Philip Hardie
Part I. Antiquity: 1. Lucretius and Greek philosophy James Warren
2. Lucretius and the Herculaneum library Dirk Obbink
3. Lucretius and Roman politics and history Alessandro Schiesaro
4. Lucretius and previous poetic traditions Monica Gale
5. Lucretian architecture: the structure and argument of the De rerum natura Joseph Farrell
6. Lucretian texture: style, metre and rhetoric in the De rerum natura E. J. Kenney
7. Lucretius and later Latin literature in antiquity Philip Hardie
Part II. Themes: 8. Lucretius and modern science Monte Johnson and Catherine Wilson
9. Moral and political philosophy: readings of Lucretius from Virgil to Voltaire Reid Barbour
10. Lucretius and the sublime James Porter
11. Religion and enlightenment in the neo-Latin reception of Lucretius Yasmin Haskell
Part III. Reception: 12. Lucretius in the middle ages Michael Reeve
13. Lucretius in the Italian Renaissance Valentina Prosperi
14. Lucretius in early modern France Philip Ford
15. Lucretius in the English Renaissance Stuart Gillespie
16. The English voices of Lucretius from John Evelyn to John Mason Good David Hopkins
17. Lucretius in the European Enlightenment Eric Baker
18. Lucretius in Romantic and Victorian Britain Martin Priestman
19. Lucretius and the moderns Stuart Gillespie and Donald Mackenzie.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literature & literary studies [D]