style

Rick Strelan rick.strelan at mailbox.uq.edu.au
Mon Oct 5 00:55:51 EDT 1998


I have been reading Demetrius' De Elocutione [interesting that Greek works
are given Latin titles!] and its raising some questions for me:
What was the relation between literature and oratory? Did orators write
then READ their orations? Did early Christian 'preachers/proclaimers' in
fact read their messages?
Demetrius made me realise that oratory [and I mean the written text] was
very much a craft. What work has been done on any style of any NT writer?
Things like the importance of the length of vowels in certain styles - long
vowels = grand style; the advice not to make connectives like MEN ... DE
correspond too nicely; lengthy sentences indicate the importance of the
subject matter etc etc?
I'd appreciate any modern literature on the subject. If Demetrius has not
been read, I can recommend him [whoever he is: my edition suggests a first
century BCE/CE writer] as an interesting read.

Rick

Rick Strelan
Studies in Religion
University of Queensland
Brisbane





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