October 2021 – Rhea Classical Review

Solo Dance in Archaic and Classical Greek Literature

Sarah Olsen, Solo Dance in Archaic and Classical Greek Literature: Representing the Unruly Body (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021). 9781108485036. Reviewed by Jennifer Starkey, Unaffiliated, acerito@protonmail.com. Though dance has long been on the scholarly agenda, the focus is nearly always on choruses of various kinds. Olsen builds on this essential groundwork to explore the rare…More

Reset in Stone: Memory and Reuse in Ancient Athens

Sarah A. Rous, Reset in Stone: Memory and Reuse in Ancient Athens (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2019). 9780299322809. Reviewed by Chelsea A.M. Gardner, Acadia University, chelsea.gardner@acadiau.ca. This volume, available in both hardcover and paperback, is 218 pages of text divided into an introduction, four chapters of content, and an epilogue. There are a further…More

Lyric Poetry and Social Identity in Archaic Greece

Jessica M. Romney, Lyric Poetry and Social Identity in Archaic Greece (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2020). 9780472131853. Reviewed by Benjamin Jasnow, William Jewell College, jasnowb@william.jewell.edu. Jessica M. Romney proposes a novel approach to the study of identity in Greek lyric poetry in this attentive and productive series of close readings. The topic of…More

Dionysus after Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy in Twentieth-Century Literature and Thought

Adam Lecznar, Dionysus after Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy in Twentieth-Century Literature and Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020). 9781108482561. Reviewed by Samuel Agbamu, Independent Researcher, samuel.agbamu@gmail.com. Italo Calvino asked “Why read the classics?” in a posthumous collection of essays published under this title in 1991.[1] Although it was not specifically the texts of Greek…More