ANNA KOMNENE by Leonora Neville ( 9780190498177 ) - Books & Audio Books at Pickabook.co.uk

Item Details

Title:

ANNA KOMNENE
THE LIFE AND WORK OF A MEDIEVAL HISTORIAN

By:

Leonora Neville

Format:

Hardback

List price:

£55.00

Our price:

£53.35

Discount:

3% off

You save:

£1.65

ISBN 10:

019049817X

ISBN 13:

9780190498177

Availability:

Usually dispatched within 1-3 weeks.

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Stock:

Currently 0 available

Publisher:

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS INC

Pub. date:

1 September, 2016

Series:

Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture

Pages:

256

Description:

Byzantine princess Anna Komnene is known for writing history and plotting to become empress by murdering her brother. This book explains how Anna broke her culture's rules for women's behavior by writing history, her efforts to be acceptable, and how her writing nonetheless fired the story of her bloodthirsty ambition.

Synopsis:

Byzantine princess Anna Komnene is known for two things: plotting to murder her brother to usurp the throne, and writing the Alexiad, an epic history of her father Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118) that is a key historical source for the era of the First Crusade. Anna Komnene: the Life and Work of a Medieval Historian investigates the relationship between Anna's self-presentation in the Alexiad and the story of her bloodthirsty ambition. It begins by asking why women did not write history in Anna's society, what cultural rules Anna broke by doing so, and how Anna tried to respond to those challenges in her writing. Many of the idiosyncrasies and surprises of Anna's Alexiad are driven by her efforts to be perceived as both a good historian and a good woman. These new interpretations of Anna's authorial persona then spark a thorough re-thinking of the standard story which defines Anna's life by the failure of her supposed political ambitions. The second half of this work reviews the medieval sources with fresh eyes and re-establishes Anna's primary identity as an author and intellectual rather than as a failed conspirator.

Illustrations:

12 illus.

Publication:

Imprint:

Oxford University Press Inc

Returns:

Non-returnable

Some other items by this author:

ANNA KOMNENE (PB)

AUTHORITY IN BYZANTINE PROVINCIAL SOCIETY, 950-1100 (HB)

AUTHORITY IN BYZANTINE PROVINCIAL SOCIETY, 950-1100 (PB)

BYZANTINE GENDER