Backing into the Future: The Classical Tradition and Its Renewal

Bernard Knox, "the foremost classicist of our time" (Maynard Mack), presents a collection of essays on diverse topics, united by a common defense of the classics, by their common concern that renewal & innovation go hand in hand with tradition, & by his wit, humanity & elegant prose. Backing into the Future opens with a group of essays on individual "Poets & Heroes" of antiquity (exploring such topics as Homer's psychological insight into Achilles' character, the playfully obscene poetry of Catullus & Ovid's poetry of exile). It then spirals outward to "Men, Gods & Cities" (including essays on the Delphic Oracle, the appearance of democracy in 5th-century Athens, the quarrel between Greek tragedy & philosophy, & Caligula--the victim of centuries of bad press. The collection closes with "Renewals"--the survival & transformation of the classics into the present age--reflections that include critiques of Derek Walcott's narrative poem Omeros & T.E. Lawrence's translation of the Odyssey, as well as thoughts on the problems of teaching the classics today. Backing into the Future encompasses the many lives of Bernard Knox--classicist, historian, literary critic & humanities defender--a man who's brought the world of ancient Greece & Rome to life for the uninitiated & scholar alike.