Catullus

by Julia Haig Gaisser

Overview

Oxford Readings in Catullus is a collection of articles that represent a sampling of the most interesting and important work on Catullus from around 1950 to 2000, together with three very short pieces from the Renaissance. The readings, selected for their intrinsic interest and importance, are intended to be thought-provoking (and in some cases provocative) and to challenge readers to look at Catullus in different ways. They demonstrate a number of approaches - stylistic, historical, literary-historical, New Critical, and theoretical (of several flavours). Such hermeneutic diversity is particularly appropriate in the case of Catullus, whose oeuvre is famously - some might say notoriously - varied in length, genre, tone, and subject matter. The collection as a whole demonstrates what has interested Catullus' readers in the last half century and suggests some of the ways in which they might approach his poetry in the future. It is accompanied by an introduction by Julia Haig Gaisser on themes in Catullan criticism from 1950-2000.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199280346
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/17/2007
Series:	Oxford Readings in Classical Studies
Pages:	618
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Julia Haig Gaisser is Research Professor in the Humanities, Bryn Mawr College.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Table of Contents

Introduction: Themes in Catullan Criticism (c.1950-2000), Julia Haig GaisserCatullus and his BooksCatullus, c. 1, Frank CopleyCatullus 116, C. W. MacleodMetrical Variations and Some Textual Problems in Catullus, Otto SkutschCatulli Veronensis Liber, Wendell ClausenThe Collection, T. P. WisemanNew Criticism and Catullus' SapphicsCatullan ‘Otiosi': The Lover and the Poet, Charles SegalCatullus 11: The Ironies of Integrity, Michael C. J. PuttnamNeoteric PoeticsThe Neoteric Poets, R. O. A. M. LyneThe Neoteric Elegiacs and the Epigrams Proper, David O. Ross, Jr.Allusion and IntertextPoetic Memory and the Art of Allusion, Gian Biagio ContePoem 101, Giuseppe Gilberto BiondiCatullus, Ennius, and the Poetics of Allusion, James E. G. ZetzelThreads in the Labyrinth: Competing Views and Voices in Catullus 64, Julia Haig GaisserObscenity and InvectiveObscenity in Catullus, Donald LateinerCatullus and the Art of Crudity, Amy RichlinDebating the SparrowHow the Sparrow of Catullus is to be Understood, and a Passage Pointed out in Martial, Angelo PolizianoThe Flea and the Sparrow, Jacopo SannazaroO factum male! O miselle passer!, Pierio ValerianoAnimal Imagery and the Sparrow, J. N. AdamsIn Defence of Catullus' Dirty Sparrow, Richard W. HooperRoman RealitiesA World Not Ours, T. P. WisemanCatullus XLII, Eduard FraenkelFriendship, Politics, and Literature in Catullus: Poems 1, 65 and 66, 116, W. Jeffrey TatumNon inter nota sepulchra: Catullus 101 and Roman Funerary Ritual, Andrew FeldherrThe Lens of Theory‘Shall I compare thee . . .? ': Catullus 68B and the Limits of Analogy, Denis FeeneyEgo mulier: The Construction of Male Sexuality in Catullus, Marilyn B. SkinnerSappho 31 and Catullus 51: The Dialogism of Lyric, Paul Allen MillerCeveat lector: Catullus and the Rhetoric of Performance, Daniel Selden

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"An essential contribution to Catullan studies, this volume deftly introduces readers to fundamental issues: formation of the collection; the speaking voice; verbal and structural techniques; intertextuality; reception both ancient and contemporary."
–Marilyn B. Skinner, University of Arizona

"Gaisser speaks with authority about every aspect of Catullus’ poetry. From now on, when my students, at whatever level, ask for a single book introduction to Catullus, I will recommend this one."
–Andrew Feldherr, Princeton

"A panoramic introduction that—like Catullus himself—is learned, accessible and luminous, rich with insights on poetic sound and architecture, intertextuality and literary reception. Gaudete, Veneres Cupidinesque, and readers of Catullus new and old."
–Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland, College Park

Editorial Reviews

"Gaisser (emer., Bryn Mawr College), who has written extensively on ancient Roman poetry and Renaissance Latin literature, has produced an excellent comprehensive guide to the major Roman poet Catullus." (CHOICE, December 2009)

"Such a simple and yet profound book could only have been written by someone with the authority conferred by a detailed knowledge of Catullus' work, its transmission and its reception over the ages. … I consider [it] the best existing survey on Catullus." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, December 2009)

From the Publisher