Attn: prillalar

[mayhap]

Curiously enough, the library wants its copy of Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society by Marcel Détienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant back, as they deem I have had it quite long enough, thank you very much. Therefore, as promised, this is what I thought of it in brief.

Originally published in French as Les ruses d'intelligence: la Metis des grecs in 1974, the entire book may be seen as a "linguistic study, an analysis of the semantic field of mêtis and of its coherence and amazing stability throughout Greek history." (The publishers' decision to replace the word "mêtis" in the title, which was apparently just fine with the French audience, with the somewhat inadequate English equivalent "cunning intelligence," seems to me to have missed the point entirely, but whatever.)

I rather liked the approach of poking at instances of the word mêtis to determine just how it can be used and what its parameters are. I suspect I would have found it infinitely more rewarding if I had actually studied ancient Greek (faffing about with a textbook during second semester senior year in high school got me an A in gifted independent study, but doesn't really count). Some rather diverse sources, like the Treatises on Hunting and Fishing, are tied together nicely, and overall I found it interesting and useful.

My suitemates are having an bizarre and inexplicable "black and white" themed party. So far it seems to involve redecorating the common area, burning an unknown food (perhaps to turn it black?) and arguing about whether or not a given thing is white. I suspect that "black and white" parties will not be the next big thing.

Comments

[prillalar]

Thanks for the review and for remembering. :) It sounds like a good study. Perhaps I'll see if I can find it. (And boggle at the name change.) I miss doing Greek -- it has a soul that Latin lacks.