Reception studies in classics continues to be a rapidly changing field. In preparing the second edition of this contribution to the New Surveys series, I have been unashamedly didactic in trying to marry an outline of the current trends in the most interesting and influential areas of research with my arguments about the relationship between classical studies and broader cultural frameworks. In the ancient world, the texts discussed were not kept apart in ivory towers. Whether they were oral, written, built, or performed, they constituted a vibrant part of community culture and its often-contested values and power struggles. Some aspects of reception studies indicate that this role of classical material and its receptions in current aesthetic, cultural, and political life is beginning to be recognized once more. I hope that at least some of my suggestions will provoke further debate and that the discussion as a whole will encourage readers to look again at both the ancient and the modern texts.
In this second edition I have tried to indicate key points where my approach and judgements have changed or been modified during the twenty years since the appearance of the first edition. This process of reflection and self-critique is still ongoing and I am grateful to the Classical Association and all involved in the New Surveys series for making this possible. At the request of the series editor, almost all the references are to material published in English, and I have also concentrated on those which are most easily accessible.
Academics and practitioners have, as always, been extremely generous in discussing their work with me, often in advance of publication or performance, and I thank them all. I am also extremely grateful to the students, friends, and colleagues from various universities who have tried out material in seminars, contributed suggestions, or criticized drafts. Special thanks in respect of the first edition are due to Carol Gillespie, David Fitzpatrick, Barbara Goff, Trish Thomas, and the late Ian McAuslan, the then series editor. For comments and suggestions during the preparation of the second edition, I am additionally especially grateful to Richard Armstrong, Stephen Harrison, Alexandria Lianeri, Fiona Macintosh, Justine McConnell, Joanna Paul, Tamsin Shasha, Christopher Stray, Elizabeth Vandiver, and Naoko Yamagata, as well as to members of the Classics and Poetry Now Network and the Classical Reception Studies Network, and to the series editor, John Taylor (whose encouragement and patience over a long period deserve a medal). At Cambridge University Press I would like to thank Hester Higton, copyeditor, Lauren Brooke, Melanie Howe and Arshiya Fathima for their work on the production process.
About the author
Lorna Hardwick is Professor Emerita in Classical Studies at the Open University, where she founded the Research Project on the Reception of Classical Texts and Images in Modern Drama and Poetry. Her initial academic training was in ancient history. She also studied European literature and intellectual history, and these fields came together to generate her interest in reception studies. She was the founding editor of the Classical Receptions Journal and is series editor (with Professor James Porter) of the Oxford University Press series Classical Presences and Classical Interventions. Her current research focuses on the Oxford Classical Receptions Commentaries, a long-term print and digital project which she co-leads with Professors Stephen Harrison and Elizabeth Vandiver.
