Bøger af Maurizio Bettini

There are a surprising number of stories from antiquity about people who fall in love with statues or paintings, and about lovers who use such visual representations as substitutes for an absent beloved. In a charmingly conversational, witty meditation on this literary theme, Maurizio Bettini moves into a wide-ranging consideration of the relationship between self and image, the nature of love in the ancient world, the role of representation in culture, and more. Drawing on historical events and cultural practices as well as literary works, The Portrait of the Lover is a lucid excursion into the anthropology of the image.The majority of the stories and poems Bettini examines come from Greek and Roman classical antiquity, but he reaches as far as Petrarch, Da Ponte, and Poe. The stories themselves-ranging from the impassioned to the bizarre, and from the sublime to the hilarious-serve as touchstones for Bettini's evocative explorations of the role of representation in literature and in culture. Although he begins with a consideration of lovers' portraits, Bettini soon broadens his concerns to include the role of shadows, dreams, commemorative statues, statues brought to life, and vengeful statues-in short, an entire range of images that take on a life of their own.The chapters shift skillfully from one theme to another, touching on the nature of desire, loss, memory, and death. Bettini brings to the discussion of these tales not only a broad learning about cultures but also a delighted sense of wonder and admiration for the evocative power and endless variety of the stories themselves.

Maurizio Bettinis Buch schildert die Praktiken und Paradigmen des Übersetzens in der griechischen und römischen Antike bis hin zu den Bibelübersetzungen des hellenistischen Judentums und der christlichen Spätantike. Es ist zugleich eine materialreiche historische Studie und ein kluger Essay über die Dimensionen des Übersetzens als Akt der kreativen Aneignung des Fremden. Im Kontrast zum modernen ¿postkolonialen¿ Übersetzungsverständnis ¿ das letztlich auf die monotheistische Schrift-Übersetzung zurückgeht ¿ versteht Bettini die Übersetzungspraxis der Antike als Teil einer Kultur der sprachlich-literarischen Umwandlung, als Akt des (Nach-) Erzählens, zugleich auch als ein der Ökonomie des (sprach-)grenzüberschreitenden Austauschs verpflichtetes Handeln.

Rooted in the Classics but ranging over the whole of Western literary culture, this book addresses many of the major issues that face us at the turn of the millennium: What is our shared cultural currency? What use do we make of it? Why should anyone involve themselves with the Classics?

The connection between women and weasels is an ancient and favorable one, based in the Greek myth of a midwife who tricked the gods to ease Heracles' birth - and was turned into a weasel by Hera as punishment. With various symbolic associations between weasels and women, the author brings to life one of the most enduring myths of Western culture.