TY - BOOK ID - 91650435 TI - Strategies of ambiguity in ancient literature AU - Vöhler, Martin AU - Fuhrer, Therese AU - Frangoulidis, Stavros A. PY - 2021 SN - 9783110715415 3110715414 9783110715811 3110715813 3110715848 PB - Berlin : de Gruyter, DB - UniCat KW - Letteratura greca. KW - Literature, Ancient KW - History and criticism UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:91650435 AB - Ambiguity in the sense of two or more possible meanings is considered to be a distinctive feature of modern art and literature. It characterizes the "open artwork" (Eco) and is generated by "disruptive tactics" (Wellershoff) and strategies to engender uncertainty. While ambiguity is seen as a "paradigm of modernity" (Bode), there is skepticism regarding its use in the pre-modern era. Older studies were dominated by the conviction that there was a lack of ambiguity in pre-modernity because, according to the rules of the "old rhetoric", ambiguity was seen as an avoidable error (vitium) and a violation of the dictate of clarity (perspicuitas). The aim of the volume is to re-examine the putative "absence of ambiguity" in the pre-modern era. Is it not possible to find clear examples of deliberately employed (intended) ambiguity in antiquity? Are the oracles and riddles, the Palinode of Stesichoros and Socrates (Phaedrus), the dissoi logoi of rhetoric, the ambiguities of the tragedies all exceptions or do they not indicate a distinct interest in the artistic use of ambiguity? The presentations of the conference, which will include scholars from various philologies, will combine a recourse to theoretical concepts of intended ambiguity with exemplary analyses from the field of pre-modern art and literature. ER -