A CONVERSATION ABOUT THUCYDIDES
from the Athenian newspaper TA NEA,
(in Greek)
Last week I had an interesting conversation about Thucydides with Dimitris Doulgeridis of the Athenian newspaper TA NEA. Here’s a ;imk for Greek speakers. It’s based on the publication of my Princeton Press book Thucydides in a Greek translation recently published by the Gutenberg Press in Athens.
The conversation made me rethink one aspect of my reading of Thucydides, both in the book and in more recent articles..
All this work is grounded in American experience and problems, from the Vietnam War, through the demagogy of Trump and others , and now to the Covid pandemic. My hope now is that a corresponding reading grounded in contemporary Greek concerns, experience and understanding will emerge and be shared across national borders. There is no compelling theoretical obstacle to such an approach, I believe, at least if one is willing to recognize the way Thucydides engages with his readers – challenging and shaping their reactions, rather than pontificating about his own views. Once one starts using such a reader response approach, multiple readings of this amazingly rich work become possible, and new transnational and cross-cultural discussions open up. I hope that will help shape the future of Thucydidean studies.
from the Athenian newspaper TA NEA,
(in Greek)
Last week I had an interesting conversation about Thucydides with Dimitris Doulgeridis of the Athenian newspaper TA NEA. Here’s a ;imk for Greek speakers. It’s based on the publication of my Princeton Press book Thucydides in a Greek translation recently published by the Gutenberg Press in Athens.
The conversation made me rethink one aspect of my reading of Thucydides, both in the book and in more recent articles..
All this work is grounded in American experience and problems, from the Vietnam War, through the demagogy of Trump and others , and now to the Covid pandemic. My hope now is that a corresponding reading grounded in contemporary Greek concerns, experience and understanding will emerge and be shared across national borders. There is no compelling theoretical obstacle to such an approach, I believe, at least if one is willing to recognize the way Thucydides engages with his readers – challenging and shaping their reactions, rather than pontificating about his own views. Once one starts using such a reader response approach, multiple readings of this amazingly rich work become possible, and new transnational and cross-cultural discussions open up. I hope that will help shape the future of Thucydidean studies.