Compitum

Robert C. Bartlett et Nasser Behnegar (éd.), Political Rhetoric in Theory and Practice, Cambridge, 2023.

Éditeur : Cambridge University Press
376 pages
ISBN : 9781009367387
£ 25.99

Political Rhetoric in Theory and Practice is an introduction to the art of rhetoric or persuasive speaking. A collection of primary sources, it combines classic statements of the theory of political rhetoric (Aristotle, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Cicero) with a rich array of political speeches, from Socrates to Martin Luther King Jr., Pericles to Richard Nixon, Sojourner Truth to Phyllis Schlafly. These speeches exemplify not only the three principal kinds of rhetoric – judicial, deliberative, and epideictic – but also the principal rhetorical proofs. Grouped thematically, the speeches boast a diversity of speakers, subject matters, and themes. At a time when the practice of democracy and democratic deliberation are much in question, this book seeks to encourage the serious study of rhetoric by making available important examples of it, in both its noblest and its most scurrilous forms.

Source : Cambridge University Press

Adrien Bresson, Alice Baudequin et Jonathan Raffin (dir.), Genre et sources. Lecture, relecture, mélecture depuis l'Antiquité, Neuville-sur-Saône, 2023.

Éditeur : Chemin de Tr@verses
Collection : Tr@boules
178 pages
ISBN : 978-2-313-00672-6
31 €

L'enjeu de cet ouvrage est d'interroger le lien entre le genre, que l'on peut définir comme les composantes non physiologiques du sexe perçues comme appropriées aux individus de sexe masculin et aux individus de sexe féminin, champ de recherche mis en avant par les gender studies, et les sources. Il s'agit donc de lire ces dernières sous l'angle du genre, d'en proposer une relecture, voire d'envisager une mélecture dont le but devient dès lors de proposer une nouvelle lecture des sources. La confrontation des disciplines (lettres classiques, littérature étrangère, histoire, sociologie, anthropologie) et des époques, depuis l'Antiquité, a permis de mettre au jour des approches aux sources propres à chaque discipline, qui peuvent nonobstant se révéler complémentaires, encourageant un examen pluriel des sources, à la lumière d'un prisme encore peu exploré.

Marco Bardini, Il cinema mediavaloide 1965-1976, Pise, 2023.

Éditeur : Edizioni ETS
292 pages
ISBN : 9788846766489
26 €

Il volume narra vita morte e miracoli (soprattutto al botteghino) di quella commedia cinematografica in costume che tra il 1965 e il 1976, rifacendosi principalmente alla novellistica del XIV-XVI secolo, ottenne uno straordinario successo popolare. Ma non di critica. Fu un filone polimorfo e onnivoro, a vocazione trash, che ebbe la spavalderia di mettere in competizione accreditati registi come Lattuada, Scola e Monicelli, e onesti artigiani di lungo corso come Festa Campanile, Amendola e Corbucci; fuoriclasse instabilmente talentuosi del cinema bis come Aristide Massaccesi, Antonio Margheriti e Mariano Laurenti, e malestrosi travèt della celluloide come Luigi Batzella, Enrico Bomba e Marino Girolami (per citarne alcuni). A non dire delle schegge impazzite. Nella faccenda, inoltre, finirono coinvolti intellettuali come Pasolini (con l'intera sua Trilogia della vita) e lo scrittore Luigi Malerba; nonché gente di teatro come Zeffirelli, Garinei & Giovannini, Gianfranco De Bosio. Nomi illustri o spregevoli che vollero trascinare in platea le vecchie storie di Machiavelli e Boccaccio, di Ruzante e Aretino, assieme a quelle di Bandello, Masuccio, Bibbiena, Sacchetti, Vasari e tanti altri. Con in più un'eccentrica considerazione per Le mille e una notte, Chaucer e il Kamasutra, il marchese de Sade, Cenerentola e Balzac. A un certo punto si volle denominare tutto ciò “decamerotico”, più nel male che nel bene. Col senno di poi, è suggerito qui di ribattezzarlo “cinema medievaloide”.

Marina Smyth, The Liber de ordine creaturarum, Turnhout, 2023.

Éditeur : Brepols
Collection : Brepols Library of Christian Sources, 5
191 pages
ISBN : 978-2-503-59678-5
45 €

The Liber de ordine creaturarum is an anonymous Latin work with an Irish provenance that dates back to the seventh century. It presents the creation as the divine handiwork and is notable for serving as both a commentary on the Hexaemeron (Six-day Work) in Genesis and as one of the earliest works of systematic theology. Although previously attributed to Isidore of Seville, the Liber de ordine creaturarum is far more than a mere compilation of 'authorities.' Instead, it emphasizes the inherent order that exists within the creation itself.

Source : Brepols

Bessarion, Liber Defensionum contra Obiectiones in Platonem. Cardinal Bessarion's Own Latin Translation of His Greek Defense of Plato against George of Trebizond. Edited by John Monfasani, Berlin-Boston, MA, 2023.

Éditeur : De Gruyter
Collection : Byzantinisches Archiv – Series Philosophica, 6
XXVII- 242 pages
ISBN : 9783111246352
129,95 €

In 1458 George of Trebizond transferred the Plato-Aristotle controversy from the Byzantine world to the Latin by publishing his Comparatio Philosophorum Platonis et Aristotelis et Praestantia Aristotelis, a full-scale attack on Plato and the Platonic tradition from antiquity to the present day, ending with a violent diatribe on the dangers posed by the influence of Cardinal Bessarion's recently deceased teacher, George Gemistus Pletho. To respond, Bessarion knew that he would have to do so in Latin, but in actuality, he composed his response in Greek and then translated it into Latin. The result was the Liber Defensionum contra Obiectiones in Platonem, which was ready for publication by 1466. At that point, however, he withdrew it from publication in order to expand its content as well as to refine its Latinity. Bessarion's response finally appeared in 1469 as the In Calumniatorem Platonis. But it was in the Liber Defensionum that Bessarion made his major decisions on what to include as well as what to exclude from his original Greek text and exactly how he would render the Greek into Latin. Thus, to understand the language and structure of the In Calumniatorem Platonis one must turn first to the Liber Defensionum.

Source : De Gruyter

Amalia Cerrito, Albert the Great (c. 1193-1280) and the Configuration of the Embryo. Virtus Formativa, Cham, 2023.

Éditeur : Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature Switzerland
Collection : Palgrave Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine
XI-171 pages
ISBN : 978-3-031-24022-5
116,04 €

This book provides the first comprehensive treatment of Albert the Great's (c. 1193–1280) notion of virtus formativa, a shaping force responsible for crucial dynamics in the formation of living beings. Crossing the boundaries between theology and philosophy, the notion of virtus formativa, or formative power, was central in explaining genetic inheritance and the configuration of the embryo. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this book reconstructs how Albert the Great, motivated by theological open issues, reorganised the natural-philosophical and medical theories on embryonic development, creatively drawing upon Greek, Patristic, and Arabic sources. A valuable contribution to research, this book offers essential insights for those studying the history of embryology, medicine, and science in the medieval and renaissance periods.

Source : Springer Nature