Jacqueline de Romilly (1913–2010)

Interview book with Jacqueline de Romilly (1913-2010), a prominent French philologist, specialized in ancient Greek literature, in particular the work of Thucydides and the tragedians. Through her expertise, she is able to shed light on numerous aspects of the classical Greeks, with a focus on intellectual history. Interview books are a risky genre: the answers often remain superficial, and the interviewee is sometimes led too much by the interviewer. This happened to Marguerite Yourcenar in show more the book interview by Matthieu Galley with her (Les Yeux Ouverts). De Romilly (Yourcenar's successor in the famous Académie Française) knows how to compensate for this by writing a supplement to each chapter in which she deepens or nuances her view on certain aspects. But it remains annoying that the questions of interviewer Alexandre Grandazzi are often longer than her answers. And both at the beginning and the end of this book there are sour belches about the loss of knowledge of the ancients. But all in all this is quite a readable book! More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2783742229. show less

For me, this is without a doubt the best introduction to classical Greek tragedies. In fewer than 170 pages, the French philologist and classicist Jacqueline de Romilly (1913–2010) provides a highly didactic overview of the origins and evolution of Athenian theater in the 5th century BCE, with, of course, an emphasis on Aeschyles, Sophocles, and Euripides—the three greats. In doing so, she also provides striking elements of analysis that are an enormous help in reading these plays, which show more are over 2,400 years old. It is a pity that this has never been translated into English. My suggestion would be to read “A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama” by Ian C. Storey and Arlene Allan as a supplement, although it is much more extensive.

For more details about de Romilly’s book, see my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8531374056 show less

La valuosa trajectòria de Jaqueline de Romilly pren un caire més personal en l'escriptura del llibre. S'escriu quan ja és jubilada i està perguent la visió.

Anomena "sabers oblidats" a un bagatge cultural que cada persona adquireix, per ella té valor destacat la literatura. Fugaçment a un passatge recorda la distinció en alemany entre bildung, culture, etc. que tan a propòsit hauria pagat la pena que s'abordara (de la mà de Nietzsche si més no).

Fonamentat en experiències i judicis show more personals. No preten ésser un assaug acadèmic, no aportar argumentació psicològica, psiquiatrica, o sobre filosofia de la ment o filosofia del llenguatge. És un llibre ben personal, breu i amable. Un poc repetitiu quan les anècdotes. show less