Secret of the Muses Retold Classical Influences on Italian Authors of the Twentieth Century

Precious repositories of ancient wisdom? Musty relics of outmoded culture? Timeless paragons of artistic achievement? Hegemonic tools of intellectual repression? Just what are the classics, anyway, and why do or should we still pay so much attention to them? What is the literary canon? What is myth, and how do we use it? These are just some of the questions addressed in John Kirby'sSecret of the Muses Retold. This study of works by five twentieth-century Italian writers investigates the abiding influence of the Greek and Roman classics, and their rich legacy in our own day. The result is not only a splendid introduction to contemporary Italian literature, but also a stimulating meditation on the insights that writers such as Umberto Eco, Roberto Calasso, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italo Calvino, and Joseph Tusiani have tapped from the wellspring of ancient tradition.Kirby, John T. is the author of 'Secret of the Muses Retold Classical Influences on Italian Authors of the Twentieth Century' with ISBN 9780226437484 and ISBN 0226437485.