Behind the Classical Façade: Michael Dyson appraises a study of the politics of Hellenism

Review of Simon Goldhill, Victorian Culture and Classical Antiquity: Art, Opera, Fiction and the Proclamation of Modernity (Princeton University Press, 2011).

March 2012, Volume 6, Number 1, 89–93.

‘Captive Greece took captive her rough conqueror’ said Horace about Rome, and Rome and Greece together have maintained a persistent hold on Europe in varying ways ever since. Simon Goldhill looks at how Victorian England responded to the world of classical antiquity in art, fiction and, to a lesser extent, opera. ‘Victorian’ here indicates his main focus, for the topics he deals with range from 1760 to today, and he also wants to bring in the continent as required. He has only one chapter and a further few pages on Wagner, but the book is of interest from a Wagnerian perspective in the insight it offers into the concerns of a society contemporary with Wagner and just across the water.