The Hellenistic Aesthetic - Barbara Hughes Fowler

Fowler's . . . own insights are apparent throughout and they seem to distill the personal appreciation and understanding of a scholar who has devoted much of her career to both contemplating and enjoying Hellenistic poetry. . . . [This book] would make an excellent background text for courses in later Greek and Roman art and it can be read with profit by anyone interested in exploring the character of Hellenistic culture.-J. J. Pollitt American Journal of Archaeology Outstanding is the range of examples discussed both in poetry and art. Theocritus Callimachus Appolonius the epigrammatists and others-that is the major figures of the time-are considered at length and in several different contexts. Passages are quoted in the original Greek translated and analyzed. Fowler's sensitivity to poetic forms evident in her other published writings is again evident here. In addition however the philosophical context is not overlooked. . . . Also highly commendable are the liberal references to works of art. Sculpture in the round and in relief portraits terracotta figurines original paintings (grave stelai) and Campanian murals mosaics gold and silver vessels and jewelry are introduced at various points. Every work of art discussed is illustrated in astonishingly clear photographs which are interspersed in the body of the text.-Christine Mitchell Havelock The Hellenistic Aesthetic provides classicists with their first thorough discussion of the aesthetic unity found in Hellenistic art and literature. . . . Fowler examines parallels both in subject matter and in artistic approach among a diverse group of literary genres and artistic forms. In twelve chapters The Hellenistic Aesthetic surveys Alexandrian epigrams pastorals epics sculptural groups mosaics paintings and jewelry to supply a convincing and frequently unexpected picture of a unified aesthetic vision.-Jeffrey Buller Classical Outlook