Description

Emotion, Restraint, and Community is an essay in cultural psychology. By examining the ways in which emotions, and talk about emotions, reinforce cultural norms, it aims to understand the interplay between the emotions and the ethics of the Roman upper classes in the late Republic and early Empire. How (in the Roman view) is virtuous behavior shaped by the emotions? How in particular do various Roman forms of fear, dismay, indignation, and revulsion support or constrain ethically significant behavior? How do the domains of these emotions--what they are "about"--intersect, overlap, or complement each other? How does their interaction create an economy of displeasure that aims to shape society in constructive ways? And--since the Romans' language of emotions is not our own--how can we answer any of these questions without imposing upon the Romans our own notions of what a given emotion is? In offering answers to all these questions the book casts new light both on the Romans and on cross-cultural understanding of emotions.

Reviews

"Emotion, Restraint, and Community in Ancient Rome is one of those scintillating books that tell us something about both the Romans and ourselves.... [Kaster is] a marvellous scholar at the top of his form."--Times Literary Supplement

"This book is a splendid contribution to a field that has recently burgeoned: the study of the emotions in classical antiquity. Kaster investigates a complex of five interrelated Latin emotion terms: verecundia , pudor , paenitenita , invidia , and fastidium ; to the chapters devoted to each of these, he appends an epilogue on integritas . The result is a rich portrait of what these ideas meant to the Romans and how they conditioned their behaviour.... Kaster is an excellent reader, and his elegant interpretations contribute greatly to the value of this gracefully written book."--David Konstan, Journal of Roman Studies

"The importance of Kaster's new book cannot be overstated, both as a study of the Roman ideology of self-restraint in its own right and as a model of careful and intelligent scholarship that builds from ancient evidence. I eagerly awaited its publication...and I am not disappointed."--Susanna Braund, The Classical Review

"A rich, stimulating investigation of a particular set of Roman emotions and of these emotions' interaction with ethics and behavior.... Kaster has been a leading voice in the 'history of emotions' movement."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Emotion, Restraint, and Community is a first-rate and timely book. It makes the clearest case that one is liable to encounter for the social (cognitive) basis of Roman emotions and makes, at the same time, a very strong argument for the continuity of these values throughout Roman pagan experience.... [A] deeply personal and very powerful book."--American Journal of Philology

Product Details

264 pages; 4 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-514078-1ISBN10: 0-19-514078-8

About the Author(s)