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OverviewConspiracy theory as a theoretical framework has emerged only in the last twenty years; commentators are finding it a productive way to explain the actions and thoughts of individuals and societies. In this compelling exploration of Latin literature, Pagan uses conspiracy theory to illuminate the ways that elite Romans invoked conspiracy as they navigated the hierarchies, divisions, and inequalities in their society. By seeming to uncover conspiracy everywhere, Romans could find the need to crush slave revolts, punish rivals with death or exile, dismiss women, denigrate foreigners, or view their emperors with deep suspicion. Expanding on her earlier Conspiracy Narratives in Roman History, Pagan here interprets the works of poets, satirists, historians, and orators-Juvenal, Tacitus, Suetonius, Terence, and Cicero, among others-to reveal how each writer gave voice to fictional or real actors who were engaged in intrigue and motivated by a calculating worldview. Delving into multiple genres, Pagan offers a powerful critique of how conspiracy and conspiracy theory can take hold and thrive when rumor, fear, and secrecy become routine methods of interpreting (and often distorting) past and current events. In Roman society, where knowledge about others was often lacking and stereotypes dominated, conspiracy theory explained how the world worked. The persistence of conspiracy theory, from antiquity to the present day, attests to its potency as a mechanism for confronting the frailties of the human condition. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Victoria Emma Pagán , Mark FensterPublisher: University of Texas Press Imprint: University of Texas Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.454kg ISBN: 9780292756809ISBN 10: 0292756801 Pages: 200 Publication Date: 01 December 2012 Audience: College/higher education , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsForeword by Mark Fenster Acknowledgments Introduction: From Conspiracy to Conspiracy Theory Chapter 1: Conspiracy Theory in Action Chapter 2: Juvenal and Blame Chapter 3: Tacitus and Punishment Chapter 4: Suetonius and Suspicion Epilogue: The Golden Age of Conspiracy Theory Abbreviations Notes Bibliography General Index Index LocorumReviewsPagan has interesting things to say about these authors and about conspiracies and the Romans' use of (mis)informed conjecture...those interested in politics in the Roman world will welcome the book. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. Pagan has interesting things to say about these authors and about conspiracies and the Romans' use of (mis)informed conjecture...those interested in politics in the Roman world will welcome the book. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.--M. J. Johnson, Vanderbilt University Choice (06/01/2013) "Pagan has interesting things to say about these authors and about conspiracies and the Romans' use of (mis)informed conjecture...those interested in politics in the Roman world will welcome the book. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. ""The idea that conspiracy theory derives from 'a crisis of epistemology ' is potentially a rich one, prompting readings that look deeper into how narrative conventions inter-act with cultural habits of mind. P. 's book offers a tantalising view into what such an inquiry might look like and what it can achieve. It therefore stands to enrich not only work on conspiracy (in which P. is already an important voice), but other familiar approaches to the mannered double-speech and darkly cloistered aesthetics which characterise Roman imperial literature...The volume is handsome and well-produced."" - The Classical Review" Pagan has interesting things to say about these authors and about conspiracies and the Romans' use of (mis)informed conjecture...those interested in politics in the Roman world will welcome the book. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. -- M. J. Johnson, Vanderbilt University Choice Author InformationVictoria Emma Pagán is Professor of Classics at the University of Florida. Her previous books are A Sallust Reader, Rome and the Literature of Gardens, and Conspiracy Narratives in Roman History. She also edited the Companion to Tacitus. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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