BMCR 2008.11.18, Kathryn Gutzwiller, A Guide to Hellenistic Literature

Kathryn Gutzwiller, A Guide to Hellenistic Literature. Blackwell Guides
to Classical Literature.  Malden, MA:  Blackwell Publishing, 2007.  Pp.
xv, 261; figs. 11; maps 3.  ISBN 978-0-631-23321-3.  $84.95.  ISBN
978-0-631-23322-0.  $34.95 (pb).

Reviewed by Chad Matthew Schroeder, Emory University
([email protected])
Word count:  3380 words
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Table of Contents
(http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0618/2006025004.html)

Kathryn Gutzwiller, the author of a number of important studies on
Hellenistic poetry such as Studies in the Hellenistic Epyllion (1981),
Theocritus' Pastoral Analogies: The Formation of a Genre (1991),
Poetic Garlands: Hellenistic Epigrams in Context (1998) (winner of the
APA's prestigious Goodwin Award of Merit), and most recently the editor
of The New Posidippus: A Hellenistic Poetry Book (2005), has produced
in her Guide to Hellenistic Literature an up-to-date handbook on the
literature of the period from the death of Alexander to the Roman
conquest of Egypt -- something long needed in the field of Classics. As
one of the leading scholars of Hellenistic poetry in North America,
Gutzwiller has helped to shape the discourse of the critical issues in
that field, and her presentation of poets and poetry in this guide is
always well-informed and interesting. But what makes this guide so
valuable to the classical community as a whole is the broad scope of
the literature it presents: entire sections are devoted to Hellenistic
philosophical and scholarly literature, as well as to authors seldom
paired with the Alexandrian poets such as Menander and Polybius. And in
addition to this inclusive and wide-ranging survey of Hellenistic
writing, Gutzwiller situates the literature against a background of
dynastic cultural pretensions, history, art and aesthetics. Students of
Greek literature, from undergraduates to specialists, will find
interesting observations and connections throughout the guide. No
Classicist should be without it.

The first of the book's four parts is a broad overview of the "History
and Culture" of the Hellenistic period with an emphasis on what each of
the four dynasties that arose in the wake of Alexander's untimely death
contributed to the world of art. In the section on Macedonia and
mainland Greece, Gutzwiller discusses the flourishing Macedonian court
of Antigonus Gonatas and the importance of the philosophical schools
operating in Athens. Gutzwiller presents the Seleucids, heirs to the
largest division of Alexander's empire, as having little time for or
interest in literary pursuits except when these "supported dynastic
interests" (9). The more enlightened Attalids succeeded not only in the
building plan of Pergamum, a city to rival Alexandria, but also in
constructing an individualized identity in their art, scholarship and
literature that presented an alternative to the cultural achievements
of Alexandria. Unsurprisingly the Ptolemies receive more attention than
the other dynasties combined. Gutzwiller considers Soter's support for
the cult of Serapis and the brother-sister marriage of Ptolemy II and
Arsinoe II as an appeal to the "dual Greek and Egyptian audiences" of
Ptolemaic Egypt (17). The discussion here of Hellenistic literary
scholarship skirts contentious and unsettled issues (e.g., the origins
of the Alexandrian text of Homer, the nature of scholarly
"commentaries"). Those approaching Hellenistic literature for the first
time will be especially interested to read Gutzwiller's summary of the
astonishing achievements of the Alexandrian scientists, doctors and
mathematicians. The decline of the Ptolemies concludes with Cleopatra
VII, whom Gutzwiller celebrates as a "brilliant woman, who reportedly
spoke nine languages and was the only Ptolemaic monarch to learn
Egyptian" (24), who as a figure that mediates between Egyptian, Greek
and Roman spheres, endowed with knowledge attainable only in
Hellenistic Alexandria, embodies all that is fascinating about the
Hellenistic world.

The book's second part is a short but perceptive excursus into the
"Aesthetics and Style" of Hellenistic literature, with subsections on
general aesthetic principles, the language of poetry and the
materiality of the written word. Some of these areas are covered in
greater depth later in the guide's fourth part, "Topics in Hellenistic
Literature." Given what little remains of Hellenistic prose it is
hardly surprising that Gutzwiller's focus throughout this section is
primarily on poetry. As one of the key hallmarks of third-century
literary sensibilities, Gutzwiller points to the rise of and
experimentation with new "generic forms" in Hellenistic poetry,
especially mime, bucolic poetry, "epyllia," didactic poems closely
aligned to prose scientific treatises, and literary epigram. Gutzwiller
also calls attention to a shift in poetry's focus from gods and heroes
to common individuals, as well as to poets who perceive of their craft
as the result of study rather than as being divinely inspired. Another
important development in literature of the third century which
Gutzwiller outlines is the turning away from composing poetry for
performance in favor of an increased focus on the poetry book as
literary artifact.[[1]] Hellenistic exposition of literary styles, and
especially of Callimachus as the champion of a poetic style defined as
leptos, is treated in detail. In relationship to the 'slender' style
Gutzwiller also offers a reading of Callimachus' programmatic opening
to book one of the Aetia, which she labels the "the single most
important passage in Hellenistic poetry" (33) -- an identification few
would challenge. A compact subsection on meter, dialect and diction
surveys the verbal dexterity of Hellenistic poets without giving in to
aridness, and through clear description and well-chosen examples
Gutzwiller presents this material in a way that even the Greekless
reader can understand and appreciate. I should add here that the
clarity of Gutzwiller's description of these subtleties and nuances of
the Greek language, which sometimes go unnoticed even by those who can
read Greek, is representative of the author's fearlessness in taking on
difficult topics. This part concludes with a discussion of the
materiality of literature. Here Gutzwiller presents some basic
information about the physical nature of papyrus rolls and writing in
the ancient world as well as an overview of the direct (e.g., papyri
and medieval manuscripts) and indirect (e.g., later citation,
palimpsest and cartonnage) routes Hellenistic literature has reached
us. By describing the physical nature of ancient texts Gutzwiller tries
to recreate for her readers the aesthetic experience of ancient
readers. Gutzwiller's interest in the realia of the book can be
detected in her discussion of individual authors in the next part of
the guide, and surely stems from her recent work on inscribed epigrams
and on the New Posidippus papyrus. One takes away from this section on
aesthetics and style a sense of what is 'Hellenistic' about Hellenistic
literature, ready to appreciate the specific contributions of
individual authors in the next part.

The guide's third part is the longest in the book and is devoted to
specific Hellenistic "Authors and Genres." As there is no larger
narrative arc for this part, my review will address each section
individually.

A dense section on Menander may come as a surprise to some readers,
because, as Gutzwiller notes, it is debatable if Menander can even be
called a "Hellenistic" author. Yet he fits in chronologically (his
early Dyskolos won first prize in 316 B.C.E.) and his "thematic focus
on intimate family drama and erotic complications" (50) accords with
other trends in the period's literature. Amid Gutzwiller's plot
summaries and her discussion of Menander's dramatic technique we learn
also about the continuing recovery of Menander in the modern era --
announcement of the "New" Menander even made it into the guide -- and
the lasting impact his comedies had on the Western theatrical tradition
through their adaptations by Plautus and Terence. Gutzwiller briefly
points out the connection between Menander's Dis Exapaton and Plautus'
Bacchides, but perhaps could have said a bit more about the fascinating
and unique overlap between these two plays that allows us to see a few
different ways in which Plautus adapted Menander's comedies for the
Roman stage.

Gutzwiller's presentation of the difficult and divisive Callimachus
follows the order that his poetic works took as they circulated in
antiquity, an arrangement that treats the reader to a sense of the
materiality of his poems. Just as Callimachus' works point to the past
and the future, as well as to his contemporary world, in this section
Gutzwiller brings Hesiod, Antimachus of Colophon, Horace, Ovid, the
Suda, and a host of others all to bear on the poetry of Callimachus.
Callimachus' many such ties again underscore one of the Gutzwiller's
larger themes in this guide: Hellenistic poetry is poised between the
Greek and Roman worlds, being both poetry of the past and of the
future. Most of the familiar facts about Callimachus are trotted out
(he did not become chief librarian, there was friction between him and
his colleagues), as is necessary in such a guide, but there is much
refreshing and perceptive in Gutzwiller's discussion of the
Callimachus' Hymns, especially about their overarching and internal
structures, as well as the narrative voices.

Ptolemaic politics and avenues of literary representation new to the
Hellenistic period underscores much of what Gutzwiller has to say about
Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica. Written into that unusual poem (as
Gutzwiller reminds her reader, the only epic poem to survive from a
seven or eight hundred year span) are Ptolemaic political interests in
the intermingling of Greek and Egyptian cultures, the foundation of new
cults and establishment of city centers, as well as the rise of
powerful Hellenistic queens. Gutzwiller delves also into Apollonius'
novel psychological presentation of the heroic deed-challenged Jason
and the besotted indecisiveness of the teenaged Medea. By considering
Apollonius' poetry in its political context, Gutzwiller presents Jason
as a character whose "problematic moral choices...reflect those of
contemporary monarchs" (79), especially those who in the manner of
Jason would marry more for self-interested political expediency than
love (apparently Arsinoe's reasons for marrying both her half-brother
Ptolemy Keraunos and her full-brother Ptolemy II Philadelphus), or who
like Medea would do away with their own family members (Arsinoe II and
Ptolemy Keraunos again come to mind).

A section on "Theocritus and Other Bucolic Poets" devotes twelve or so
pages to the former and only a longish paragraph to Moschus and Bion,
which some may feel is a little out of balance. One of the repeated
themes in this section relates to the old scholarly chestnut of which
poetic genre Theocritus composed in -- bucolic or pastoral.
Gutzwiller's Theocritus comes across as an originator and poet of both
genres.[[2]] Gutzwiller goes through some of the unclear evidence for
the ancient edition(s) of Theocritus, pursuing again the theme of
ancient poetry books and collections that runs throughout this guide.
Welcome is the brief discussion of Theocritus' epigrams, as well as the
sometimes neglected pseudo-Theocritean Idylls -- all precious evidence
for the ancient delight in the escapist bucolic-pastoral genre and its
association with Theocritus.

Hellenistic didactic poetry has not really stood up to the test of
time, and the guide's section on this genre necessarily focuses on the
extant poems of Aratus and Nicander. Gutzwiller situates both authors
as working within a tradition of didactic literature extending from
Hesiod's poems to technical prose treatises of the fourth and third
centuries by Eudoxus, Theophrastus and Apollodorus, and continuing down
into the literature of Rome. As Gutzwiller notes, the popularity of
Hellenistic didactic poetry, especially Aratus' Phaenomena, does strike
many today as "odd" (98) and she attempts to explain its vogue. Since
so little survives of Hellenistic didactic poetry, we have a difficult
time understanding its appeal and tracing its influence, yet Gutzwiller
reminds us that standing somewhere behind works such as Vergil's
Georgics and Ovid's Metamorphoses is an influential, though lost, genre
of literature.

Although Gutzwiller has published widely on Hellenistic literature, the
majority of her past and present work has been on Hellenistic epigram,
and the guide's section on this material -- "the only poetic genre
originally written to be read, rather than orally performed" (107) --
is rich and useful. A brief history of the genre and a typology of
epigrams serve to remind the reader that we are here dealing with the
only form of Greek literature whose production has abated but never
really ceased. (Thus Gutzwiller, among others, have treated the
Alexandrian Cavafy as an heir to Hellenistic epigrammatists [[3]].)
Posidippus, Callimachus and Meleager all loom large in this section, as
do the guide's recurrent themes of author-crafted epigram collections
and anthologizing tendencies, as well as the relationship between
inscribed and literary epigram. Gutzwiller's work on the "New"
Posidippus from the past decade underscores much in this section, and
points to what we can expect in her forthcoming edition of Meleager.

A section on dramatic literature presents a grab-bag of various poets
and their poems, some of which need never have actually been acted out
on a stage. The tenuous thread that links them together here is
performance or its conceit. Gutzwiller begins with a list of the
best-known practitioners of Hellenistic tragedy and comedy, which
reminds us how much we have lost in the near-total disappearance of
this poetry. On the other hand, we are reasonably well-informed about
the occasions or contexts for the performance of these poems, and
throughout the section Gutzwiller notes who would have been in the
audience for, say, Ezechiel's Exagoge (123). Besides a description of
and excerpt from this unique and fascinating Judaeo-pagan drama,
Gutzwiller offers summary and analysis of Lycophron's enigmatic
Alexandra, the Mimiambi of Herodas, as well as the broad category of
"mime." The mysterious nature of the Alexandra casts its shadow even
over its author, and Gutzwiller briefly lays out the evidence for
dating him to either the third or second centuries, noting also that
the poet seems to have worked somewhere besides Alexandria. Pergamum is
suggested, but Gutzwiller might also have noted the attractive theory
that places him in southern Italy, which (to my mind) neatly explains
the looming inevitable specter of Roman domination.[[4]] A
"Hellenistic" poet at work in southern Italy would, moreover,
underscore the fact that Greek literature in the Hellenistic period is
a Mediterranean-wide phenomenon.

A parade of poets, some obscure even by Hellenistic standards, and
perhaps better-known philosophers fill a section on "Parodic and
Philosophical Literature." The guide situates Hellenistic parodic
literature in a tradition stretching back to the fifth-century B.C.E.,
although the Homeric Margites does not appear alongside the works of
Hegemon, Euboeus, or Archestratus as a possible model. Gutzwiller does
an excellent job in demonstrating how parodic literature takes part in
the broader literary dialogue of Hellenistic aesthetics: moralizing
themes, animal stories, sexual jokes, and the "exaltation of the 'low'
over the 'high'" (135) place authors such as Cercidas, Machon, and
Phoenix of Colophon in favorable comparison with sophisticates like
Callimachus and other Alexandrians. In regard to Hellenistic
philosophy, in three and a half pages Gutzwiller offers little more
than brief summary -- not least because philosophical writing from the
period is "now mostly reduced to tatters" (141). The strength of this
section then, reflected elsewhere throughout this guide, lies in the
contextualization of both parodic and philosophical writers within
larger literary and political trends and the broadening of geographical
horizons of Greek literature in the Hellenistic period. Thus, the
Gadaran Philodemus filters Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience,
Callimachus "tangled" with the Peripatetic Praxiphanes (142 -- no
better verb than this!), and Sotades wholly overestimated his
familiarity with Ptolemy II.

A section on the aristocratic exile Polybius underscores again the
breadth of Gutzwiller's guide. Discussion here covers the events in the
life of Polybius which made possible the composition of his history,
his mediation between the Greek and Roman spheres of influence, and the
tenor of his writings. What emerges is an engaging portrait of the
macrobiotic Polybius, who traced the footsteps of Hannibal through the
Alps to disprove divine intervention, was an eye-witness to the fall of
Carthage and an explorer of the Atlantic seacoast. Gutzwiller concludes
by charting the influence of Polybius, through later Greek and Roman
historians, down to Machiavelli and the American Constitution.

Technical prose writing is treated in a rich section -- part
description, part biography, part anecdote -- and concludes this part
of the book. Given the highly specialized nature of most of the
material covered here, Gutzwiller wisely opts for a discussion of the
"manner of presenting technical material in textual form, rather than
the content" of the works (154). Despite her focus on the style and
presentation of this literature (e.g., in prose, accompanying
illustrations, organization following a catalogue format, etc.),
Gutzwiller still offers many details about the methods and writings of
Euclid, Aristarchus of Samos, Philo of Byzantium, Eratosthenes and a
number of less well-known scholars and scientists.

Summary doesn't trump analysis in this third part of the guide:
Gutzwiller liberates Menander's plots from Peripatetic doctrines,
elevates parodic literature by showing how poets engaged broader
literary trends, and has interesting things to say about how the
character of Jason in Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica may reflect the
moral preoccupations of the reigning monarchs. What these summaries all
have in common is a near-seamless interweaving of these many genres of
literature, written across the span of three centuries for Greek and
foreign audiences, into a larger fabric of "Hellenistic" literature.

The final part in the guide treats "Topics in Hellenistic Literature"
in sections dealing with erudition and novel forms of poetry,
readership, the cultural background of literature and the reception of
Hellenistic literature in Rome. A section entitled "Learning and
Innovation" starts off with an eloquent elaboration of Hellenistic
poets' anxiety that they were latecomers in the history of Greek
literature, and a defense of the use of allusion in Hellenistic poetry
by showing how it can be artful in its own right. Genre is another
preoccupation in this section, and Gutzwiller describes how new forms
of poetry arose, how pre-existing ones were merged (the oft-mentioned
"Kreuzung der Gattungen"), and further how poets used prose sources in
order to elaborate their own creations or produce "innovative generic
hybrids" (176). Missing here is a discussion of the importance of
epistles as a subgenre of literature. Gutzwiller elsewhere brings up
the importance of the letter of Aristeas (194-95) and the letters of
Epicurus (143), but in connection with these she might have mentioned
the twenty-four pseudepigraphic letters of Hippocrates, some of which
are probably early Hellenistic in date.[[5]] The section "Book Culture
and Performance" ranges widely over certain and possible contexts for
the recitation of poetry, the "writtenness" of Hellenistic poetry
(whether through the mention of poetic craft within poems or the
visuality of technopaegnia), and the importance of author-organized
collections or the anthologizing tendencies of later collectors.
Gutzwiller's earlier work on the craft of collecting and publishing is
apparent once again. In the section "Social and Political Background"
Gutzwiller presents an overview of some of the most productive recent
trends in the study of Hellenistic poetry. Multicultural elements
assuredly exist in Greek literature transplanted onto alien shores --
especially in literature composed in Ptolemaic Egypt -- but Gutzwiller
notes that tracing them and understanding who their audience was remain
difficult and controversial topics. More productive have been the
trends which study the political and ideological dimensions of
Hellenistic poetry, as well as the increased appreciation of the roles
women played as poets and as characters within poems written by men.
This part of the guide concludes with two additional sections: one a
brief foray into theories of literary and artistic criticism, the other
a glance ahead at the ways in which Hellenistic literature influenced
the literature of Rome. Gutzwiller shows how considerations of mime^sis
continued throughout and after the Hellenistic period, as well as the
ways in which new avenues of literary critical inquiry opened up in the
areas of euphony and allegory. Just as Philodemus preserves for us
knowledge about earlier Hellenistic critics, so he was also an
important mediating figure of Hellenistic literature in first-century
B.C.E. Rome. In the section on the reception of Hellenistic literature
in Rome, Gutzwiller describes how Ennius, Catullus, Vergil and a host
of other poets pursue literary projects little different from the Greek
authors who worked in previous centuries. Again, breadth and depth
characterize this section and the guide as a whole.

Brief notes, a chronological list of Hellenistic monarchs, bibliography
and an index round out the volume. A section on suggested readings will
prove particularly valuable for students and non-specialists.

The study of Hellenistic literature, and especially poetry, has
undergone a renaissance in the last two decades. This guide
consistently offers elegant proof of how modern discoveries and the
application of critical theories have enriched our knowledge and
appreciation of Hellenistic literature. Gutzwiller's guide expertly
summarizes what we know about this period's literature, charts
scholarly approaches to it, and should -- I hope -- help to plot the
path for future research.[[6]]


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Notes:


1.   Gutzwiller explores this issue further on pp. 178-88, with due
attention paid to Alan Cameron's views.

2.   N. Krevans offers a clear description of the problem in "Is there
Urban Pastoral?: The Case of Theocritus, Id. 15" in M. Fantuzzi & T.
Papanghelis, eds., Brill's Companion to Greek and Latin Pastoral
(Leiden: Brill, 2006), pp. 126-29

3.   K. Gutzwiller, "Visual Aesthetics in Meleager and Cavafy,"
Classical and Modern Literature, 23 (2003), pp. 67-87.

4.   An Italian location is suggested by A. Erskine, Troy between
Greece and Rome (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 155-56;
the city of Rhegium is specified by G. Lambin, L'Alexandra de Lycophron
- Etude et traduction. (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes,
2005), pp. 16-29.

5.   See the introduction (pp. 1-44) in W. D. Smith's Hippocrates'
Pseudepigraphic Writings: Letters, Embassy, Speech from the Altar,
Decree. Studies in Ancient Medicine 2. (Leiden: Brill, 1990).

6.   Missteps are inevitable in a book with as broad a scope as this
guide. Gutzwiller oddly places Cyrene "just to the east of Egypt" (61),
though it's really almost five hundred miles to the west. Scholarly
consensus seems now to prefer the titles Epitaph for Adonis for Bion 1
and Epitaph for Bion for pseudo-Moschus 3, literally translating the
Greek title <greek>e)pita/fios</greek>, yet Gutzwiller refers to both
as "Laments" (97). Neither poem, for instance, is called a "Lament" in
Brill's Companion to Greek and Latin Pastoral (note 2), though this may
be a sign of editorial fiat. One also wonders why Gutzwiller says that
Arsinoe erected a building to the Dioscuri "at their cult site on
Samothrace" (191), as though the Dioscuri were equivalent to the
Megaloi Theoi who were worshipped there (they were not). I'm also
puzzled why Gutzwiller calls the famous oyster riddle (983-84
Lloyd-Jones and Parsons) an "epigram found on a potsherd" (210) which,
as she correctly observes in a footnote, is actually preserved on a
papyrus. Happily these quibbles add up to little and in no way detract
from the value of this guide.