Afterword: Omni-Local Classical Receptions

Abstract

This afterword reviews the articles in this special issue on classical receptions in Eastern and Central Europe in light of debates about the cultural identity of classical reception studies and the dominant role that European classical receptions play in this field. I argue that the focus on Eastern and Central Europe draws our attention to different versions of and very different orientations within Europe, and thereby contributes to a decentred model of European classical receptions. This decentred model is more attuned to a cosmopolitan, comparative approach to classical reception studies in which the translatability and cultural mobility of Greek and Roman works are omni-local, rather than universal. Writing as a scholar of classical reception studies for whom much of the literature discussed in the preceding articles was hitherto unfamiliar, I find myself reflecting on the difference that this Special Issue makes to Classical Reception Studies in a global context, in addition to the contribution to specialist research on classical receptions in Central and Eastern Europe contained in individual articles. In this brief Afterword I suggest three respects in which these articles contribute to broader