Articles

Work in Progress:

Literary Revision as Social Performance in Ancient Rome

By Sean Alexander Gurd

(Oxford, 2011)

"My most important conclusion is that revision made textuality into a medium of social exchange. Revisions were not always made by authors working alone; often, they were the result of conversations between an author and friends or literary contacts, and these conversations exemplified a commitment to collective debate and active collaboration. Revision was thus much more than an unavoidable element in literary genesis--it was one way in which authorship became a form of social agency. ... So long as an author was still willing to revise, the text served as a temporary platform around and in which a community came into beling." (p. 4)