Nietzsche on Classical Literature

Between 1869 and 1879, Friedrich Nietzsche, Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Basel, gave several lecture courses devoted to Ancient Greek literature. At the beginning of his most important course, “History of Greek Literature,” Nietzsche asks what it was that enabled the Greeks to produce what we now refer to as “classical” literature and whether it is possible for modern writers to produce a body such of work today. These questions provide the focus for the workshop. The Greek aesthetic experience remains an extraordinarily complex phenomenon whose irreducible otherness vis-à-vis the modern world becomes ever more apparent when read through the lens of modern aesthetic and theoretical categories. In light of oppositions such as orality/writing, production/reproduction, convention/originality, norm/nature, Nietzsche explores these different worlds, each governed by its own laws and yet, inevitably, historically connected to the other. The workshop seeks to bring together scholars from different disciplines in order to discuss the various issues raised by Nietzsche’s historical and literary analyses and to elicit the numerous implications his thought has for our relationship with the ancient world.

Organized by Carlotta Santini (Hellenic Studies) and Alexander Nehamas (Philosophy and Comparative Litearture)

Sponsored by the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies and the Program in Classical Philosophy

2:00-2:20
Opening Remarks

Alexander Nehamas (Princeton) and Carlotta Santini (Princeton)

2:20-3:10
Session One

Andrew Ford (Princeton)

3:10-4:00
Session Two

Brooke Holmes (Princeton)

4:00-4:20
Break

4:20-5:10
Session Three

André Laks (Universidad Panamericana/Paris IV Sorbonne)

5:10-6:00
General Discussion