New Books in Intellectual History Maia Kotrosits, "After Transformation: Rewriting Time, Christian Late Antiquity, and the Present" (Duke UP, 2025)
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Nov 25, 2025 Maia Kotrosits, a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School, delves into her book After Transformation, exploring the lyrical history of Christian late antiquity. She argues that lyricism unveils daily life and marginalized experiences, showcasing emotional truths in ancient narratives. Kotrosits reads fragments and poetry to reveal historical resonances, emphasizing non-linear storytelling and the richness of partial changes. By choosing beauty in her writing, she aims to make the complexity of the past more accessible and meaningful for all.
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Lyricism As Way Of Knowing
- Lyrical history treats poetic form as an epistemology, not just style.
- Maia Kotrosits argues lyricism reveals experiences ordinary methods obscure.
Recovering Everyday Lives
- Lyrical history surfaces granular, daily experiences that large-scale narratives erase.
- Kotrosits uses small scenes to recover trauma, aspiration, and non-dominant lives.
Scrambling Timelines To Avoid Teleology
- Scrambling timelines resists teleology and colonial narratives of inevitability.
- Kotrosits pairs resonant moments across time to theorize without linear causality.
