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The story of our ongoing fascination with Homer, the man and the myth. Homer, the great poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey, is revered as a cultural icon of antiquity and a figure of lasting influence. But his identity is shrouded in questions about who he was, when he lived, and whether he was an actual person, a myth, or merely a shared idea. Rather than attempting to solve the mystery of this character, James I. Porter explores the sources of Homer’s mystique and their impact since the first recorded mentions of Homer in ancient Greece. Homer: The Very Idea considers Homer not as a man, but as a cultural invention nearly as distinctive and important as the poems attributed to him, following the cultural history of an idea and of the obsession that is reborn every time Homer is imagined. Offering novel readings of texts and objects, the book follows the very idea of Homer from his earliest mentions to his most recent imaginings in literature, criticism, philosophy, visual art, and classical archaeology.
Detailed new account of the historical emergence and conceptual reach of the sublime both before and after Longinus.
Things are particulars and their qualities are universals, but do universals have an existence distinct from the particular things describable by those terms? And what must be their nature if they do? This book provides a careful and assured survey of the central issues of debate surrounding universals, in particular those issues that have been a crucial part of the emergence of contemporary analytic ontology. The book begins with a taxonomy of extreme nominalist, moderate nominalist, and realist positions on properties, and outlines the way each handles the phenomena of predication, resemblance, and abstract reference. The debate about properties and philosophical naturalism is also examine...
'Classical Pasts' addresses the concepts of a (so-called) 'classical' antiquity and the 'classical' ideal, which were once legion, and which today tend to be assumed and left unqueried rather than subjected to scrutiny.
A benchmark in African American art history, originally published in 1943, later reissued in 1969. The present edition adds a new introduction by David C. Driskell that places the book and Porter's work in context. With four color and 79 bandw illustrations on glossy stock. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This trenchant study analyzes the rise and decline in the quality and format of science in America since World War II. Science-Mart attributes this decline to a powerful neoliberal ideology in the 1980s which saw the fruits of scientific investigation as commodities that could be monetized, rather than as a public good.
This is the first modern attempt to put aesthetics back on the map in classical studies. James Porter traces the origins of aesthetic thought and inquiry in their broadest manifestations as they evolved from before Homer down to the fourth-century and then into later antiquity, with an emphasis on Greece in its earlier phases. Greek aesthetics, he argues, originated in an attention to the senses and to matter as opposed to the formalism and idealism that were enshrined by Plato and Aristotle and through whose lens most subsequent views of ancient art and aesthetics have typically been filtered. Treating aesthetics in this way can help us reveal the commonly shared basis of the diverse arts of antiquity. Reorienting our view of the ancient vocabularies of art and experience around matter and sensation, this book dramatically changes how we look upon the ancient achievements in these same areas.
Ultimate Ferrari GTO explores the story of this iconic family of cars in more detail and with more authority than ever before. Introduced in 1962 as the final evolutionary step in the long-running 250 GT series, the GTO was the last and best GT racer of the front-engine era. It remained at the forefront for three seasons, winning a hat-trick of World Championship titles for Ferrari. Ever since, GTOs have retained their exalted status not just because of their racing achievements but also their exquisite beauty, undoubted charisma and -- for those lucky enough to have experienced this -- peerless driveability. Indeed, the GTO's illustrative reputation has made it the world's most desirable car, as confirmed by the record-breaking prices repeatedly paid for the finest examples. Packed with superb photographs, many not previously published, this lavish two-volume production does true justice to this ultimate car.
As dusk came down on the evening of 13 January 1834, James Porter and nine other convicts, transported at His Majesty's Pleasure to Van Diemen's Land, captured the newly launched barque the Frederick from their British masters. James Porter had spent the majority of his days since transportation planning how he would escape. Though he had mastered the art of fleeing his captors, he had not ever managed to stay free for long. He hoped he and his fellow ship thieves would fare better on this occasion. Rather than aim for a new life on the harsh islands of Bass Strait or the isolated coasts of New Zealand, the men decided to make their way to Valdivia, on the coast of Chile. Six thousand miles away on the other side of the Pacific, surely they could evade the British and assume new identities as shipwrecked mariners?