Faculty Member, Classics
Professor of Greek Language and Literature
About
The main focus of my current research is Aristotle's Poetics. I have a long-standing interest in this text, on which I have written a number of articles; my translation was published by Penguin Classics in 1996. But I am now in the early stages of a more ambitious long-term project, the ultimate goal of which is a theoretical commentary. I believe that the Poetics needs to be read as part of Aristotle's work as a philosopher: that is to say, the treatise is concerned with poetry as a human universal rather than with any particular poetic tradition. Greek poetry and drama is not his subject-matter, but his main evidence base; they provide empirical data for an enquiry that aims to understand behaviours that Aristotle regards as natural for all human beings. My focus in the first stage of this long-term project is therefore not on the Poetics itself, but on Aristotle's philosophical anthropology. Poetry (including song) is a unique and universal (but also differentiated) feature of human behaviour: so what unique cluster of enables and motivates humans to engage in this behaviour? To what extent are traits shared with other animals involved? How does poetry fit into a distinctively human lifestyle? In carrying this phase of the project through, I will bring Aristotle into dialogue with relevant modern research in (for example) biology, comparative psychology and anthropology as a way of deepening our understanding of the implications of his theoretical commitments. Thanks to an award under the Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Leave Scheme, I was able to devote 2006-2007 to work on a number of preparatory studies designed to lay the foundations for this project. The award of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for the two years 2010-2012 will enable to me to carry this phase of the project forward towards completion.
A related project is a book on Ancient Philosophical Poetics, for the Cambridge University Press series Key Themes in Ancient Philosophy.
My previous major research project was on rhetorical theory and the teaching of rhetoric in late antiquity. In 1995 I published a translation, with commentary, of Hermogenes On Issues. I then focused on the third-century rhetorician Menander of Laodicea (Menander Rhetor), evaluating the evidence for his commentary on Demosthenes and setting his work in a number of broader contexts, including the development of rhetorical theory in the second and third centuries, the rhetorical classroom and its teaching practices, and the broader social context. Tenure of a British Academy Research Readership made it possible to bring this complex and ramifying project to completion during the two years 2001-2003. Menander: a rhetor in context was published by Oxford University Press in 2004.
I continue to work on ancient rhetoric, and also retain an active research interests in Greek Tragedy and Old Comedy, in ancient interpretations of Homer, and in the theory of interpretation.
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| Address: | Professor Malcolm Heath |
