Christian Gottlob Heyne and the changing fortunes of the commentary in the age of Altertumswissenschaft

Harloe, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0207-5212 (2015) Christian Gottlob Heyne and the changing fortunes of the commentary in the age of Altertumswissenschaft. In: Kraus, C. S. and Stray, C. (eds.) Classical Commentaries: Explorations in a scholarly genre. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 435-456. ISBN 9780199688982

Abstract/Summary

This chapter discusses the pedagogic and scholarly priorities that informed Heyne’s commentaries on Tibullus (1755), Virgil (1767-75) and Homer (1802), as well as their initial critical reception. Like those of his teachers, Gesner and Ernesti, Heyne’s works eschew detailed textual scholarship in favour of aesthetic and historicizing appreciation of literary works as wholes. Their formal innovations – most notably the relegation of advanced philological discussions to endnotes and the inclusion of excursuses on significant historical and cultural questions – are an attempt to tailor a traditional format to the demands of an Enlightened age and the cultural-historical interests of the new Altertumswissenschaft. The chapter discusses their contrasting critical receptions in order to raise questions about the viability of Heyne’s endeavours to make a traditional medium fit new concerns.

Item Type	Book or Report Section
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/39805
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Humanities > Classics
Publisher	Oxford University Press
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