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Chargement... The Poetics of Phantasia: Imagination in Ancient Aestheticspar Anne Sheppard
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With a thorough examination of ancient views of literary and artistic realism, allegory and symbolism, The Poetics of Phantasia brings together a study of the ways in which the concept of imagination (phantasia in Greek) was used in ancient aesthetics and literary theory.The Greeks and Romans tended to think of the production of works of art in terms of imitation, either of the world around us or of a transcendent ideal world, rather than in terms of originality and creativity. Study of the way phantasia is used in ancient writing about literature and art reveals important features of the ancient approach to the arts and in doing so will also shed light on modern concepts of imagination and the literary and artistic differences between realism and allegory.Covering a range of literary and philosophical material from the beginnings of Greek literature down to the Neoplatonist philosophers of late antiquity, The Poetics of Phantasia discusses three discrete senses of imagination in ancient thought. Firstly, phantasia as visualization is explored: when a writer 'brings before his eyes' what he is describing and enables his audience or reader to visualise it likewise. The second theory of phantasia is that which is capable not only of conveying images from sense-perception but also of receiving images from intellectual and supra-intellectual faculties in the soul, and thus helping people grasp mathematical, metaphysical or even mystical concepts. Finally, phantasia is seen as a creative power which can conjure up an image that points beyond itself and to express ideas outside our everyday experience. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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 Google Books — Chargement...GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)111.850938Philosophy and Psychology Metaphysics Ontology Properties of being Aesthetics Aesthetics Biography And History Ancient WorldClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne: Pas d'évaluation.Est-ce vous ?Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing. |
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The title may perhaps mislead the reader, insofar as it evokes a much broader horizon of investigation than the one actually embraced by the book. In particular, the risk of misinterpreting the target of the volume may be caused by two terms in the title: the substantives ‘poetics’ and ‘aesthetics’ may suggest that ancient rhetorical manuals, scholia and commentaries on major poetic works, as well as ancient critical and didactic texts on style and aesthetic perception, are the main sources discussed in the book. This would be a false impression. On the other hand, some useful keywords which would have better defined the focus of Sheppard’s work are missing. A reference to the Neoplatonists and to the ancient philosophical account of imagination and its manifold functions among the activities of the human soul (not just the artistic ones) would have provided the prospective reader with helpful clues to get a better sense of the actual subject-matter of the book.
That said, this work is highly commendable. It accompanies the reader through an intricate web of sometimes difficult or ambiguous philosophical formulations. It successfully engages with the polysemy of the key terms examined, constantly recapitulating the essential notions to be kept in mind before moving on to the next argument, in simple language and a straightforward style. All in all, this is a very enjoyable account of the Neoplatonic reception, and conflation, of Platonic and Aristotelian statements about the place of imagination in metaphysics.