From chrisica@email.msn.com Sun Apr 29 21:57:17 2001 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.03) with ESMTP id f3U4vG9114456 for ; Sun, 29 Apr 2001 21:57:16 -0700 Received: from cpimssmtpu10.email.msn.com (cpimssmtpu10.email.msn.com [207.46.181.85]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f3U4vGv04395 for ; Sun, 29 Apr 2001 21:57:16 -0700 Received: from chrisica ([63.23.131.245]) by cpimssmtpu10.email.msn.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.3225); Sun, 29 Apr 2001 21:57:12 -0700 From: "Christopher Robbins" To: Cc: Subject: RE: anyone read? Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 00:57:49 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: <200104300133.f3U1Xro23639@ccat.sas.upenn.edu> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 30 Apr 2001 04:57:12.0981 (UTC) FILETIME=[050EF450:01C0D132] JO'D asks: >Just say this advertised in Lingua Franca: > Page duBois, *Trojan Horses: Saving the Classics from > Conservatives* (NYU Press 2001) >Any reports? No report, save to note that among the always intriguing information available at the just-concluded CAAS Spring Meeting (in which, BTW, there was a warm and meaningful tribute to Barbara McManus) there was a flyer on this book by Prof. duBois that contained the following three marketing blurbs, to which only one (the first) had a name attached, and which I cite below without comment for those who may be interested: 1) "Page duBois forcefully weighs in on the contentious debate about the role of the Classics and the ancient Greeks in education today. Grounded in a deep understanding of the Greeks and their texts, _Trojan Horses_ is at once polemical and imaginative, open-minded and passionate. Those who only want a treacly version of the ancient world will try to discount duBois' argument, but readers who are themselves prepared to engage in the adventure, and risk the dangers, of the unending historical quest, should read this book. I recommend it to anyone as a bracing introduction to the study of the ancient world." - Ralph Hexter 2) "We've become accustomed to the wisdom of the ancient Greeks being trotted out by conservatives in the name of timeless virtues. At the same time, critics have charged that multiculturalists and their ilk have hopelessly corrupted the study of antiquity itself, and that the teaching of Classics is dead. "_Trojan Horses_ is Page duBois' answer to those who have appropriated material from antiquity in the service of a conservative political agenda -- among them Camille Paglia, Allan Bloom, and William Bennett. She challenges cultural conservative's appeal to the authority of the classics by arguing that their presentation of ancient Greece is simplistic, ahistorical, and irreparably distorted by their politics. As well as constructing a devastating critique of these pundits, _Trojan Horses_ seeks to present a more complex and more accurate view of ancient Greek politics, sex, and religion, with a Classics primer. She eloquently recounts the tales of Daedalus and Artemis, for example, conveying their complexity and passion, wile also unearthing actions and beliefs that do not square so easily with today's 'family values.' As duBois writes, 'Like Bennett, I think we sho9uld study the past, but not to find nuggets of eternal wisdom. Rather we can comprehend in our history a fuller range of human possibilities, of beginnings, of error, and of difference." 3) "In these fleet chapters, duBois offers readers a view of the ancient Greeks that is more nuanced, more subtle, more layered and in every way more historical that the portrait other writers, of whatever stripe, want to popularize and see displayed in our classrooms. Sharp, timely, and engaging, _Trojan Horses_ portrays the richness of ancient Greek culture while riding in to the rescue the Greeks from the new barbarians." The flyer notes that Page duBois is Professor of Classics and Cultural Studies at U. California, San Diego. CRR NYC Chrisica@msn.com .