Staging Masculinity: The Rhetoric of Performance in the Roman World (The Body, In Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism) | 
| Author: Erik Gunderson
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $65.00
New (5) Used (6) from $61.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1290968
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0472111396
Dewey Decimal Number: 875.0109353
EAN: 9780472111398
ASIN: 0472111396
Publication Date: November 8, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Performance was one of the five canonical branches of oratory in the classical period, but it presents special problems that distinguish it from concerns such as composition and memory. The ancient performer was supposed to be a "good man" and his performance a manifestation of an authentic and authoritative manliness. But how can the orator be distinguished from a mere actor? And what is the proper role for the body, given that it is a potential object of desire?
Erik Gunderson explores these and other questions in ancient rhetorical theory using a variety of theoretical approaches, drawing in particular on the works of Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Lacan. His study examines the status of rhetorical theory qua theory, the production of a specific version of body in the course of its theoretical description, oratory as a form of self-mastery, the actor as the orator's despised double, the dangers of homoerotic pleasure, and Cicero's De Oratore, as what good theory and practice ought to look like.
Erik Gunderson is Assistant Professor of Greek and Latin, Ohio State University.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Empty Rhetoric March 21, 2008
Though it is clearly well researched, the book falls short in numerous ways. It is repetitve and fails to capture the essence of the orators within.
 A Learned Gallimaufry of Psychoanalytic Scurrilousness April 16, 2004
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The author of this text has done his homework and seems to be adept with classical languages, postmodernism and psychoanalytic thought. Yet, there is just something disappointing about this work that purportedly advances our understanding of the role that the "good man" (vir bonus) plays in staging masculinity by means of elocutionary exercises. Gunderson says that the book is "about rhetoric" in his preface. While it certainly appeals to classical texts and does (as promised by the author) contain "numerous examples of anaphora, asyndeton, and alliteration," it seems to be more of a dissertation on psychodynamism than rhetorical devices or tropes. Gunderson aptly demonstrates, I think, what a "real man" (a vir) was in ancient Roman society. He also shows the part that rhetoric played in this important socializing process. From Quintilian's Institutio oratoria, we read: "I am training the consummate orator, a figure whose existence is predicated on his being a good man (vir bonus). Accordingly I demand of him not only an exceptional speaking ability, but all of the moral and spiritual virtues" (1. pr. 9). The negative aspect of this book, in my opinion, is that it does not illuminate (for the most part) the texts produced by the ancient rhetoricians, but rather reductionistically shoehorns the ancient classical writings into the "footwear" of psychodynamism. The constant sexualizing of that which was probably not intended to be sexual gets old fast. Moreover, the crass language used by Gunderson (repeatedly) seems unnecessary in the context of the study with the exception of his discussion of Aristophanes, which still could have been handled differently. Nevertheless, the foremost reason this books gets two stars from me is its failure to provide hardly any profitable material with respect to rhetoric or classical texts. I cannot in good conscience or with scholarly integrity recommend this sad gallimaufry.
 Amazing December 6, 2000
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was not only extremely interesting. but also very infomative. Well worth reading.
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