U. of Kentucky's glossary of rhetorical terms

The Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures, & Cultures at the University of Kentucky has an outstanding site: A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples.

Crazy about 'Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics'

I love this Editorial Statement for Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics:

"MORE THAN humane philology is essential for keeping the classics as a living force. Arion therefore exists to publish work that needs to be done and that otherwise might not get done. We want to stimulate, provoke, even 'plant' work that now finds no encouragement or congenial home elsewhere. This means swimming against the mainstream, resisting the extremes of conventional philology and critical fashion into which the profession is now polarized. But occupying this vital center should in no way preclude the crucial centrifugal movement that may lead us across disciplinary lines and beyond the academy. Our commitment is to a genuine and generous pluralism that opens up rather than polarizes classical studies. We will not be coerced into conforming either to the traditional paradigms or to the 'new' metaphysic and ideological absolutism of contemporary theory. If we are to move beyond the cant of 'isms' now dominating the academy, intellectual daring is needed, not disciplinary diffidence.

"We are in quest of freshness of vision, distinction of thought (as opposed to professional group-think), rigor of imagination, and an energetic sense of the spaciousness of the classical tradition."

The above excerpt appeared here.

Visit the Arion homepage here.

Editing the classics, even the Bible

In another dispatch from the short-attention span culture (of which I am a part), The Times of London reports:

“To howls of indignation from literary purists, a leading publishing house is slimming down some of the world’s greatest novels.

“Tolstoy, Dickens and Thackeray would not have agreed with the view that 40 per cent of Anna Karenina, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair are mere ‘padding’, but Orion Books believes that modern readers will welcome the shorter versions.

“The first six Compact Editions, billed as great reads ‘in half the time’, will go on sale next month, with plans for 50 to 100 more to follow.”

It’s hard to take this seriously. Editing great works of literature is supposed to be funny.

For example, the Reduced Shakespeare Company is touring the United States with its live performance of “The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged).” Robert Brustein, founding director of the American Repertory Theater, called it “absolutely outrageous and absolutely wonderful,” adding that it’s “totally irreverent and I think anyone who sees it is going to have a whale of a good time.”

What’s the difference between the Reduced Shakespeare Co. and Orion Books?

Orion Books isn’t trying to be funny.

The rest of The Times article on Orion Books is at http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article1652629.ece .

The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s Web site is http://www.reducedshakespeare.com/ .

-Colin Burch