Tagesordnung: Dispositio der Alltagspraktiken bei Plinius dem Jüngeren

What is it about?

In my praxeologically grounded contribution, I read the dispositio, the rhetorical principle of order par excellence, not only as a practice of textual order, but also as one of life order. Drawing on the New Historicist concept of ‘self-fashioning’ and on the Foucauldian ‘technologies/practices of the self’, I describe Plinian letter-writing as a cultural practice through which the self, as well as the entire ‘matter’ of life, is represented and ordered in a certain way. In my reading of ep. 3.1, I trace how rhetorical categories, such as the aemulatio or especially the dispositio, are transformed into a principle of life. Finally, I also discuss how in ep. 9.36 rhetorical-literary principles penetrate into the realm of life. In Pliny's daily routine, not only do the spatio-temporal implications of dispositio emerge, but it also becomes apparent how Pliny construes himself as a rhetorical work of art.

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Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The strong emphasis on cultural practices is relatively new in the field of classics. My interpretation of Pliny's letters on the 'daily routine' - focusing on cultural practices included in that, such as reading, walking, or even letter-writing - is a contribution to this recent trend.

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