Michael von Albrecht's
A History of Roman Literature, originally published in German, can rightly be seen as the long awaited counterpart to Albin Lesky's
Geschichte der Griechischen Literatur. In what will probably be the last survey made by a single scholar the whole of Latin literature from Livius Andronicus up to Boethius comes to the fore. 'Literature' is taken here in its broad, antique sense, and therefore also includes e.g. rhetoric, philosophy and history. Special attention has been given to the influence of Latin literature on subsequent centuries down to our own days.
Extensive indices give access to this monument of learning. The introductions in Von Albrecht's texts, together with the large bibliographies make further study both more fruitful and easy.
Michael von Albrecht is emeritus Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Heidelberg. He studied in Tübingen and Paris and has held several guest professorships in the United States and the Netherlands. He is a specialist in Classical Latin poetry (Ovid, Vergil), in Latin high prose (Cicero), text syntax and style, narrative structure, the influence of the Classical tradition in modern literature and music. He is editor of
Studien ur Klassischen Philologie, and
International Journal of Musicology. His publications include
M. Tullius Cicero, Sprache und Stil (1971),
Meister Römischer Poesie (1971, English translation 1988),
Rom: Spiegel Europas (1988),
Ovid: Metamorphosen (1989).
Historians of Roman Literature, comparative literature, Latinists.