Yun Lee Too - Böcker

Yun Lee Too offers a sustained reading of the social function of the body of texts we identify as 'ancient literary criticism' with major implications for how we understand this discourse and also modern criticism and literary theory. The author argues that when Greek and Roman authors discuss what and how to read in works, they are attempting to create and maintain the political community and its identity by regulating the languages available to it. Literary criticism is a process of discrimination between competing discourses, serving as a strategy by which certain forms of speech or writing may be pronounced legitimate at the expense of others. The volume traces ancient criticism from its origins in archaic Greek poetry through to the early Christian era. As well as reading the familiar texts of ancient criticism - Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Poetics, [Longinus] On the Sublime, amongst others - it shows how ancient law, history, and rhetoric participate in the critical process.

How does one construct a role for oneself in the fourth-century democratic city? This commentary on Isocrates' Antidosis , which includes a full translation as well as an extensive introduction, demonstrates that a rhetorician may do so by assuming roles that subvert many of the conventions invoked by the genre - a non-speaker in a rhetorical community, a rhetorician in a world where rhetorical performativity has derogatory connotations, a philosopher following the trial of Socrates. Moreover, Yun Lee Too demonstrates how the narrative of 'self' in the Antidosis is to be understood as a sophisticated amalgam of literary, rhetorical, philosophical, and legal discourses.

In The Idea of the Library in the Ancient World Yun Lee Too argues that the ancient library was much more than its incarnation at Alexandria, which has been the focus for students of the subject up till now. In fact, the library is a complex institution with many different forms. It can be a building with books, but it can also be individual people, or the individual books themselves. In antiquity, the library's functions are numerous: as an instrument of power, of memory, of which it has various modes; as an articulation of a political ideal, an art gallery, a place for sociality. Too indirectly raises important conceptual questions about the contemporary library, bringing to these the insights that a study of antiquity can offer.

Pedagogy and Power is a volume of interdisciplinary essays which explores the political dimensions of Graeco-Roman education and of its subsequent models. Seeking to make the various structures and discourses of intellectual authority more apparent, the essays argue that there is a social context for the knowledge imparted by classical models of pedagogy. They examine how such pedagogues instruct their pupils to function as citizens who rule or are ruled, privileging certain knowledge over others, and including some individuals while excluding others. Overall the book shows that the complex and plural authorities and power that have been associated with classical learning and knowledge are not part of a legacy to be unproblematically inherited or reproduced.

The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates offers a sustained interpretation of the Isocratean corpus, showing that rhetoric is a language which the author uses to create a political identity for himself in fourth-century Athens. Dr Too examines how Isocrates' discourse addresses anxieties surrounding the written word in a democratic culture which values the spoken word as the privileged means of political expression. Isocrates makes written culture the basis for a revisionary Athenian politics and of a rhetoric of Athenian hegemony. In addition, Isocrates takes issue with the popular image of the professional teacher in the age of the sophist, combating the negative stereotype of the greedy sophist who corrupts the city's youth in his portrait of himself as teacher of rhetoric. He daringly reinterprets the pedagogue as a figure who produces a discourse which articulates political authority.

The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates offers a sustained interpretation of the Isocratean corpus, showing that rhetoric is a language which the author uses to create a political identity for himself in fourth-century Athens. Dr Too examines how Isocrates' discourse addresses anxieties surrounding the written word in a democratic culture which values the spoken word as the privileged means of political expression. Isocrates makes written culture the basis for a revisionary Athenian politics and of a rhetoric of Athenian hegemony. In addition, Isocrates takes issue with the popular image of the professional teacher in the age of the sophist, combating the negative stereotype of the greedy sophist who corrupts the city's youth in his portrait of himself as teacher of rhetoric. He daringly reinterprets the pedagogue as a figure who produces a discourse which articulates political authority.

Pedagogy and Power is a volume of interdisciplinary essays which explores the political dimensions of Graeco-Roman education and of its subsequent models. Seeking to make the various structures and discourses of intellectual authority more apparent, the essays argue that there is a social context for the knowledge imparted by classical models of pedagogy. They examine how such pedagogues instruct their pupils to function as citizens who rule or are ruled, privileging certain knowledge over others, and including some individuals while excluding others. Overall the book shows that the complex and plural authorities and power that have been associated with classical learning and knowledge are not part of a legacy to be unproblematically inherited or reproduced.

'An innovative and challenging title from feminists in Britain [...] makes a valuable contribution to understanding sexual harassment' Feminist Bookstore News'Serious and scholarly ... deserves a wide audience' Journal of the Institute of Health Education'Excellent ... However familiar the subject may seem - or precisely because we all think we know what term 'sexual harassment' means - these discussions open up a series of vital questions, both theoretical and practical. Rethinking Sexual Harassment is a valuable contribution to a debate that continues all around us' ParallaxSexual harassment continues to stimulate controversy and attract partisan responses. This is an exciting and original exploration of how it came to be defined, what institutional forces and contexts shape our understanding of it. This multidisciplinary study brings together essays from feminist scholars in the fields of law, literature, the social sciences, history and cultural studies.The contributors' central argument is an awareness of the social and discursive contexts required to challenge sexual harassment effectively. Offering insight into current limitations and making practical suggestions for ways forward, this wide-ranging collection addresses general readers and professionals alike.Contributors include Suzanne Gibson; Helen Watson; Gargi Bhattacharyya; Ruth Jamieson; Celia Kitzinger; Suzanne Raitt; Ros Hunt; Diane Purkiss; Padma Anagol-McGinn and Jane Beckett

This volume explores irony – in its essence, saying other than one actually means – in the collected works of Xenophon. Xenophon’s Other Voice argues that there are two voices in the author: one ostensible at the level of the literal text, which is available to everyone, while the sub-title designates the other voice, which is less obvious to the reader and indeed, an ironic one. It presents a unified view of the author’s entire corpus and argues that the function of Xenophontic irony is to offer critiques of the societies in which he finds himself.Rejecting both non-ironic and Straussian interpretations of Xenophon's writings, Yun Lee Too offers a wholly original perspective on the contemporary debate of how he should be read, which is underpinned by a series of incisive readings of the individual works. Beginning with Xenophon’s representation of an ironic Socrates, who condemns the contemporary city and its more prominent citizens, the book moves on to consider how the author develops his own approach to irony. He deploys irony to criticize aspects of Athenian society, such as its understanding of wealth, its armed forces and sophistic education. The book then turns to his treatment of other Hellenic societies, including the Spartan city-state and laws, kingship in Syracuse and war amongst the Greek states. It finally considers Persia, covering Xenophon's depiction of Cyrus the Great and the expedition with Cyrus the Younger.