Faculty of Classics - University of Cambridge

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The Classical Sublime

A conference to be held on 14-15 March 2008 in the Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University

What is the sublime? Influentially theorised by Burke and Kant in the 18th century, the concept has recently attracted postmodern and Lacanian analysis from philosophers such as Derrida, Lyotard and Zizek. An aesthetic once exploited by Coleridge, Turner and the Romantics, the sublime today finds a home in the paintings of Barnett Newman and the films of David Lynch. The sublime’s classical roots, however, have been largely neglected and this conference aims to redress the balance, with discussion focusing on classical theorisations of the sublime (most notably Ps.-Longinus’s seminal treatise Peri Hypsous), on representations of the sublime in classical literature, and on the influence of these classical formulations on later understandings of the sublime. By establishing a cultural frame for the sublime different to those usually adopted, the conference aims to suggest new ways of understanding the concept. Conversely, consideration of ancient texts in terms of the long tradition of literature on and of the sublime will hopefully prompt fresh perspectives on these texts, their particular aesthetic modes, and these modes’ wider cultural implications. Questions and problems underlying these aims include:

The locus of sublime experience. Burke associated the sublime with natural phenomena such as mountains, sea-storms and chasms, but what were the ancient hallmarks of sublimity?

The representation of the sublime. How did ancient literature handle the problem of the unrepresentable?

The relationship between the Classical and the Sublime. The two aesthetics have often been opposed to each other, so what does it mean to talk about a ‘Classical Sublime’?

Aesthetic continuity. Are there grounds for establishing parity between the sublime in ancient and post-Classical art?

The relationship between the aesthetic and the ideological. Does the aesthetic analysis of Classical literature need rehabilitation? Can aesthetics be legitimately separated from ideology? Is the sublime itself a valid category, or merely the marker of a bankrupt search for transcendence?

Speakers

Patrick Cheney
Henry Day
Philip Hardie
Richard Hunter
Charles Martindale
James Porter
Andrew Laird
Alessandro Schiesaro
Philip Shaw
Michael Silk