
Rethinking Metonymy
Literary Theory and Poetic Practice from Pindar to Jakobson
Sebastian Matzner(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 13. October 2016
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-0-19-872427-8 (ISBN)
Description
Although metonymy has long been recognized as being a central device in poetic language, it has received little critical attention in its own right. Not only has this created a gap in literary analytical scholarship which needs to be addressed, but it has also allowed for problematic appropriations of metonymy as a critical concept now widely in use in structuralist studies across the humanities.
Rethinking Metonymy is the first monograph to confront and resolve these issues. It advances the theory of poetic language by developing a ground-breaking new definition of metonymy on the basis of an evaluation of examples in Greek tragedy and lyric poetry, considering these in conjunction with examples from classicizing and Romantic German poetry for the purposes of illustration and comparison, including works by Goethe, Schiller, and Hölderlin. In addition to establishing the
fundamental principle, different conformations, and aesthetic effects of this important poetic device, the volume also demonstrates how the new arguments it offers have the potential to set an agenda for far-reaching reconsiderations in literary studies and beyond. It mobilizes analytical insights into the inner
workings of metonymy by examining three case studies designed to explore the trope in critical practice, covering its role in creating a 'hellenizing' style, what happens to it in 'classic' German translations of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, and critically re-assessing its modern re-appropriations as a structural-semiotic paradigm.
Connecting classical perspectives with modern linguistic and literary theory, Rethinking Metonymy is a compelling and authoritative analysis that rehabilitates and brings much-needed clarity to an oft-neglected literary device. Its combination of in-depth engagement with classical literature and cross-cultural and cross-linguistic comparison makes it an invaluable resource not only to specialists in Greek poetry, but also to students and scholars engaged in literary analysis,
translation criticism, and structuralist studies across a much wider range of disciplines.
Rethinking Metonymy is the first monograph to confront and resolve these issues. It advances the theory of poetic language by developing a ground-breaking new definition of metonymy on the basis of an evaluation of examples in Greek tragedy and lyric poetry, considering these in conjunction with examples from classicizing and Romantic German poetry for the purposes of illustration and comparison, including works by Goethe, Schiller, and Hölderlin. In addition to establishing the
fundamental principle, different conformations, and aesthetic effects of this important poetic device, the volume also demonstrates how the new arguments it offers have the potential to set an agenda for far-reaching reconsiderations in literary studies and beyond. It mobilizes analytical insights into the inner
workings of metonymy by examining three case studies designed to explore the trope in critical practice, covering its role in creating a 'hellenizing' style, what happens to it in 'classic' German translations of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, and critically re-assessing its modern re-appropriations as a structural-semiotic paradigm.
Connecting classical perspectives with modern linguistic and literary theory, Rethinking Metonymy is a compelling and authoritative analysis that rehabilitates and brings much-needed clarity to an oft-neglected literary device. Its combination of in-depth engagement with classical literature and cross-cultural and cross-linguistic comparison makes it an invaluable resource not only to specialists in Greek poetry, but also to students and scholars engaged in literary analysis,
translation criticism, and structuralist studies across a much wider range of disciplines.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 223 mm
Width: 142 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
514 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-872427-8 (9780198724278)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2016
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€17.49
Available for download

E-Book
09/2016
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€16.49
Available for download
Person
Sebastian Matzner is Lecturer in Comparative Literature at King's College London, where he earned his Ph.D. in Classics and Comparative Literature in 2012. His doctoral thesis, entitled 'The Forgotten Trope: Metonymy in Poetic Action', won the University of Heidelberg's Prize for Classical Philology and Literary Theory and he was subsequently awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship to pursue his postdoctoral research project 'Beautiful Tyrants: Postcolonial
Reflections on Philhellenism in Rome and Germany' at the University of Oxford. After lectureships in Classics and Latin Language and Literature at Oxford and the University of Exeter respectively, he returned to King's College London in September 2015.
Reflections on Philhellenism in Rome and Germany' at the University of Oxford. After lectureships in Classics and Latin Language and Literature at Oxford and the University of Exeter respectively, he returned to King's College London in September 2015.
Author
Lecturer in Comparative LiteratureLecturer in Comparative Literature, King's College London
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