David Quint's "Epic and Empire" reinterprets epic poetry, examining its political contexts from Virgil's Aeneid to modern works. He contrasts the imperial narratives of conquest with the perspectives of the defeated, exploring how these traditions shape historical storytelling. The book also connects literary analysis to broader historical developments.
Ethical and Political Themes in the Essais
David Quint presents a fresh interpretation of Montaigne's Essais, highlighting the Renaissance writer's dual role as a literary figure and a political thinker. Set against the backdrop of the French Wars of Religion, Montaigne's essays explore themes of conflict and reconciliation, particularly through the lens of mercy and ethical discourse. Quint delves into how Montaigne addresses the dynamics between victors and captives, advocating for trust and compassion in a divided society. This examination reveals the moral urgency of understanding and extending mercy to others.
A unified narrative and thematic design emerges in this fresh interpretation of Don Quijote, revealing connections among its episodes that have often gone unnoticed. David Quint argues that the novel reflects the historical shift from feudalism to a commercial society, with erotic desire evolving alongside social aspirations. As the story progresses, Don Quijote transforms from a madman to a wiser hero, embodying the emerging middle class. Cervantes uses this journey to explore the novel as a literary form, questioning heroism and imagination in everyday life.
Combining extensive scholarship with insightful interpretation, this study offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between Milton's epic and its literary predecessors. The author employs clarity and humor to explore how "Paradise Lost" engages with and reshapes the epic tradition, making it an essential read for those interested in literary analysis and the evolution of epic poetry.
"The message of Virgil's Aeneid once seemed straightforward enough: the epic poem returned to Aeneas and the mythical beginnings of Rome in order to celebrate the city's present world power and to praise its new master, Augustus Caesar. Things changed when late twentieth-century readers saw the ancient poem expressing their own misgivings about empire and one-man rule. In this timely book, David Quint depicts a Virgil who consciously builds contradiction into the Aeneid. The literary trope of chiasmus, reversing and collapsing distinctions, returns as an organizing signature in Virgil's writing: a double cross for the reader inside the Aeneid's story of nation, empire, and Caesarism."--Back cover