The Language of Atoms
Performativity and Politics in Lucretius' De rerum natura
Seiten
2015
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-020242-2 (ISBN)
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-020242-2 (ISBN)
The Language of Atoms argues that Epicurean writing, specifically Lucretius', offers a theory of performative language, of how language acts rather than describes.
The Language of Atoms argues that ancient Epicurean writing on language offers a theory of performative language. Such a theory describes how languages acts, providing psychic therapy or creating new verbal meanings, rather than passively describing the nature of the universe. This observation allows us new insight into how Lucretius, our primary surviving Epicurean author, uses language in his great poem, De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things). The book begins with a double contention: on the one hand, while scholarship on Lucretius has looked to connect Lucretius' text to its larger cultural and historical context, it has never turned to speech act theory in this quest. This omission is striking at least in so far as speech act theory was developed precisely as a way of locating language (including texts) within a theory of action. The book studies Lucretius' work in the light of performative language, looking at promising, acts of naming, and the larger political implications of these linguistic acts. The Language of Atoms locates itself at the intersection of both older scholarly work on Epicureanism and recent developments on the reception history, and will thus offer scholars across the humanities a challenging new perspective on Lucretius' work.
The Language of Atoms argues that ancient Epicurean writing on language offers a theory of performative language. Such a theory describes how languages acts, providing psychic therapy or creating new verbal meanings, rather than passively describing the nature of the universe. This observation allows us new insight into how Lucretius, our primary surviving Epicurean author, uses language in his great poem, De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things). The book begins with a double contention: on the one hand, while scholarship on Lucretius has looked to connect Lucretius' text to its larger cultural and historical context, it has never turned to speech act theory in this quest. This omission is striking at least in so far as speech act theory was developed precisely as a way of locating language (including texts) within a theory of action. The book studies Lucretius' work in the light of performative language, looking at promising, acts of naming, and the larger political implications of these linguistic acts. The Language of Atoms locates itself at the intersection of both older scholarly work on Epicureanism and recent developments on the reception history, and will thus offer scholars across the humanities a challenging new perspective on Lucretius' work.
W. H. Shearin is Assistant Professor of Classics, University of Miami and co-editor of Dynamic Reading (OUP 2012).
Acknowledgments ; Preface ; 1) Speech Acts in Epicureanism ; 2) Lucretian Promises: fides, foedus, and the Politics of Nature ; 3) Antonomasia, Anonymity, and Atoms: Naming Effects in De rerum natura ; 4) Catachrestic Origins: Speech Acts and the Politics of the Performative ; Works Cited ; Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 9.4.2015 |
|---|---|
| Verlagsort | New York |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 234 x 163 mm |
| Gewicht | 442 g |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie Altertum / Antike | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
| Sozialwissenschaften | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-19-020242-4 / 0190202424 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-19-020242-2 / 9780190202422 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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