Bøger i Education, Literary Culture, a serien

Davina Grojnowski examines Life, the autobiographical text written by ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, from a literary studies perspective and in relation to genre theory. In order to generate a framework of literary practices, Josephus' Life and other texts within Josephus' literary spheres-all associated with autobiography-are the focus of a detailed literary analysis which compares the texts in terms of established features, such as structure, topoi and subject. This methodological examination enables a better understanding of the literary boundaries of autobiography in antiquity and illustrates Josephus' thought-process during the composition of Life. Grojnowski also offers a comparative study of autobiographical practices in Greek and Roman literature, demonstrating the value of passive education supplementing what had been taught actively and its impact on authors and audiences. As a result, she provides insight into the development of literary practices in reaction to various forms of education and subsequently reflects on the religious (self-) views of authors and audiences. Simultaneously, Grojnowski reacts to current discourses on ancient literary genres and demonstrates that ancient autobiography existed as a teachable literary genre in classical literature.

By integrating conversations across disciplines, especially focusing on classical studies and Jewish and Christian studies, this volume addresses several imbalances in scholarship on reading and textual activity in the ancient Mediterranean. Contributors intentionally place Jewish, Christian, Roman, Greek and other reading circles back into their encompassing historical context, avoiding subdivisions along modern subject lines, divisions still bearing marks of cultural and ideological interests. In their examination, contributors avoid dwelling upon traditional methodological debates over orality vs. literacy and social classifications of literacy, instead turning their attention to the social-historical: groups of people, circles and networks, strata and class, scribal culture, material culture, epigraphic and papyrological evidence, functions and types of literacy and the social relationships that all of these entail. Overall, the volume contributes to an emerging and important interdisciplinary collaboration between specialists in ancient literacy, encouraging future discussion between two currently divided fields.