The Idea of the Library in the Ancient World

by Yun Lee Too

Overview

In The Idea of the Library in the Ancient World Yun Lee Too argues that the ancient library was much more than its incarnation at Alexandria, which has been the focus for students of the subject up till now. In fact, the library is a complex institution with many different forms. It can be a building with books, but it can also be individual people, or the individual books themselves. In antiquity, the library's functions are numerous: as an instrument of power, of memory, of which it has various modes; as an articulation of a political ideal, an art gallery, a place for sociality. Too indirectly raises important conceptual questions about the contemporary library, bringing to these the insights that a study of antiquity can offer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191610394
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	01/07/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	228,075
File size:	22 MB
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About the Author

Yun Lee Too has held research fellowships at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington and has taught at the University of Liverpool and Columbia University. She currently lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

IntroductionOrigins: The Diachronic Perspective1. The Birth of A Library2. Library Catalogues: From Literary Description to Literary Self-DescriptionForms of the Library3. The Breathing Library: Performing Cultural Memories4. The Library (as) Book: The Fantasy of the Total Text5. The Library of Universal History: Diodorus Siculus and Literary CosmopolitanismMemories6. Inside and Outside of the Library: The Memory of CanonPhysicalities7. Picture Libraries: Statues among the Books8. The Sociality of the Ancient Library