Rhetoric in Byzantium: Papers from the Thirty-fifth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Exeter College, University of Oxford, March 2001 (review)

188 Reviews Parergon 21.1 (2004) no vocabulary to analyse, for instance, the effect of the male gaze on the production of masculinity in these films. Arguably, this is a central concern in narratives coded for chivalry, honour and friendship. There is little consideration of the kinds of subjectivities produced by the films, either masculine or feminine; the reading of Mists of Avalon (2001) is confined to an unproblematic notion of representation. The real loss here is any ground for an interdisciplinary consideration of the films; or at least, a consideration that draws on both literary and filmic modes of analysis. Cinema Arthuriana shows no sign of diminishing: legendary Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer is currently overseeing a version of King Arthur and the Saxons, on location, in Ireland. These films are a significant means of the transmission and reinterpretation of the stories, characters and anxieties given narrative form in the Arthuriad. Harty’s volume enables a reading of such stories and the filmic versions in which they are represented and, thus, provides the opportunity to ask why it is that western culture keeps telling the story of King Arthur to itself. Jenna Mead School of English, Journalism, and European Languages University of Tasmania Jeffreys, Elizabeth, ed., Rhetoric in Byzantium: Papers from the Thirty-fifth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Exeter College, University of Oxford, March 2001, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003 (Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, Publication 11); hardback; pp. xii, 281; 24 b/w illustrations; RRP £45; ISBN 0754634531. The strengths of this collection of essays on Byzantine rhetoric are the editing by Elizabeth Jeffreys, including her valuable Introduction and useful abbreviations and index, and the impressive production of the book by Ashgate. There are 17 other contributors, whose names appear very briefly on the back dust-jacket. The book’s last two empty pages could well have given these authors more permanence and interest with brief biographies. Ten came from England (Oxford, Birmingham and London, three each), three from the USA and one from Belfast, Greece, Russia, Bonn and Vienna, for this 2001 symposium in Oxford. The rather diverse but very interesting contributions are divided into five sections, the first (pp. 9-72) on The uses of rhetoric, the second (pp. 75-113) Reviews 189 Parergon 21.1 (2004) on Public uses of rhetoric, the third (pp. 117-170) on Literature and rhetoric, the fourth (pp. 173-211) on Rhetoric and historiography and the fifth (pp. 215272 ) on Rhetoric and visual images. In time they range from the earliest Greek orators (Ruth Webb on ‘Praise and persuasion’, pp. 127-135) and the seventh century (Mary Whitby on ‘George of Pisidia and the persuasive word’, pp. 173186 ) to the eighth century (Mary Cunningham on ‘Dialogue in Byzantine preaching’, pp. 101-113) and the ninth century (Martha Vinson on its ‘Writing strategies’, pp. 9-22). The remaining majority cover the eleventh (four essays) to the fifteenth century. This lack of balance reflects the usual concentration on the later centuries by mediaeval scholars, rather than the sixth and seventh, mainly due to a paucity of historical evidence. The Introduction ends with a useful survey of the contributions by the editor. The other essays are by Charlotte Roueché (on ‘The rhetoric of Kekaumenos,’ pp. 23-38), Costas Constantinides (Teachers and students in the late Byzantine period,’ pp. 39-54), Dimiter Angelov (on ‘Byzantine imperial panegyric as advice literature’, pp. 55-72),Wolfram Hörandner (on ‘Court poetry: questions of motifs, structure and function,’ pp. 75-86), Michael Jeffries (on ‘Rhetorical texts,’ pp. 87-100), Jakov Ljubarsky (on ‘How should a Byzantine text be read?’ pp. 117-126), Margaret Mullett (on ‘Rhetoric, theory and the imperative of performance: Byzantium and now,’ pp. 151-170), Erich Trapp (on ‘The role of vocabulary in Byzantine rhetoric as a stylistic device,’ pp. 137-150), Catherine Holmes (on ‘The rhetorical structures of Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historion,’ pp. 173186 ), Ruth Macridis (on ‘George Akropolites’ rhetoric,’ pp. 201-211) Henry Maguire (on ‘Byzantine rhetoric, Latin drama and the portrayal of the New Testament,’ pp. 215-234), Robin Cormack (on ‘Living painting’, pp. 235-254) and Leslie Brubaker (on ‘Text and picture in manuscripts: what’s rhetoric got to do with...