Written in a lively and accessible style, Antiquity Now opens our gaze to the myriad uses and abuses of classical antiquity in contemporary fiction, film, comics, drama, television - and even internet forums. With every chapter focusing on a different aspect of classical reception - including sexuality, politics, gender and ethnicity - this book explores the ideological motivations behind contemporary American allusions to the classical world. Ultimately, this kaleidoscope of receptions - from calls for marriage equality to examinations of gang violence to passionate pleas for peace (or war) - reveals a 'classical antiquity' that reconfigures itself daily, as modernity explains itself to itself through ever-expanding technologies and media. Antiquity Now thus examines the often-surprising redeployment of the art and literature of the ancient world, a geography charged with especial value in the contemporary imagination.
- civilization,
- classical influences,
- United States,
- Virgil,
- Homer,
- Oedipus,
- Eros,
- barbarism,
- expansionism,
- feminism,
- sexuality,
- psychology,
- Middle East
List of illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- It's Greek to them: Gay and lesbian receptions of the ancient world -- Classics and ideology -- September 11th on the Western stage -- From the borders: Contemporary identity, community, and the ancient world -- Power, the canon, and the unexpected voice -- In conclusion: On fractures and fracturing -- References -- Index