| Description |
1 online resource (vii, 405 pages) |
| Contents |
Mirror of princes or flaws in the glass? : general remarks -- Explicit authorial evaluations in historical writing -- Xenophon's adaptations of his literary predecessors : Homer, Herodotus, and others -- Xenophon's patterned narratives of leadership -- Readings of Cyropaedia -- The dynamics of friendship -- Xenophon's Socratic and other ironies |
| Summary |
This book is about Xenophon's literary presentation of the leadership of individuals in their communities, from those of private households up to those of great empires. Leadership is his main interest throughout his works, and the examination of the methods he uses to portray leadership gives us an insight into his general literary techniques. The main aim is to show that these techniques produce images of leaders that are rich in literary and conceptual interest and contribute to the literary theory of writing in prose. As part of this analysis, the book addresses readings that have found concealed criticism behind his apparently positive images of leadership in a majority of his works. These represent a dominant trend of literary criticism of Xenophon in our time and we can profit from engaging with them. They can be called ‘ironical’ or ‘subversive’ or ‘darker’ readings and they reflect the preoccupation of the modern world with irony. They reveal the democratic suspicion of leaders that is reflected in modern management theory, which finds leadership problematic because of its inherent drift to autocracy, but solves the dilemma by placing restrictions on the power of leaders, such as the need to secure assent from other members of the organization, and to give them self-determination, inclusiveness, equal participation and deliberation. Xenophon believed also that leaders were fundamental to the success of any organization, but he also knew the risk of the drift toward autocracy, and it will become clear in the course of the analysis that his theory placed restrictions on his leaders that are very like the ones mentioned above in connection with modern democratic management theory |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Xenophon -- Criticism and interpretation
|
| SUBJECT |
Xenophon fast |
| Subject |
Leadership in literature.
|
|
Greek literature -- History and criticism
|
|
Leadership in literature
|
|
Languages & Literatures.
|
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Greek & Latin Languages & Literatures.
|
| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9780191724954 |
|
0191724955 |
|
