The Roman Gaze: Vision, Power, and the Body

by David Fredrick (Editor)

Overview

The Roman Gaze: Vision, Power, and the Body uses the concept of "the gaze" to examine literary, visual, and material evidence that reveals the contribution of ancient Rome to the development of Western culture. Contributors draw upon a wide range of theoretical methods, using visual and body theory from various fields and period specializations. Topics include violence and gender in Senecan theater, literary representations of erotic love within a hierarchical and violent Rome, and the differing appeal of artistic depictions designed for visual consumption by both genders. Boldly interdisciplinary, The Roman Gaze will interest readers in history, classics, literature, art, and cinema.

Contributors: Carlin Barton, Cindy Benton, John R. Clarke, Anthony Corbeill, Katherine Owen Eldred, David Fredrick, Pamela Gordon, Zahra Newby, and Alison R. Sharrock.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801869617
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	11/18/2002
Series:	Arethusa Books
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.11(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David Fredrick is an associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Arkansas.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Invisible Rome
Chapter 1. Split Vision: The Politics of the Gaze in Seneca's Troaders
Chapter 2. This Ship of Fools: Epic vision in Lucan's Vulteius Episode
Chapter 3. Some Unseen Monster: Rereading Lucretius on Sex
Chapter 4. Reading Programs in Greco-Roman Art: Reflections on the Spada Reliefs
Chapter 5. Look Who's Laughing at Sex: Men and Women Viewers in the Apodyterium of the Suburban Baths at Pompeii
Chapter 6. Political Movement: Walking and Ideology in Republican Rome
Chapter 7. Being in the Eyes: Shame and Sight in Ancient Rome
Chapter 8. Mapping Penetrability in Late Republican and Early Imperial Rome
Chapter 9. Looking at Looking: Can You Resist a Reading?
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

William C. Fitzgerald

In The Roman Gaze classicists will find sophisticated and theoretically informed discussions of a broad range of literature, art, and social norms and of the light they throw on contemporary theoretical concerns. This collection makes an excellent case for the importance of Roman material for a range of issues connected with the gaze and a similarly powerful case against letting Classical Athens stand for the ancient world.

— William C. Fitzgerald, University of California, Berkeley

From the Publisher

In The Roman Gaze classicists will find sophisticated and theoretically informed discussions of a broad range of literature, art, and social norms and of the light they throw on contemporary theoretical concerns. This collection makes an excellent case for the importance of Roman material for a range of issues connected with the gaze and a similarly powerful case against letting Classical Athens stand for the ancient world.
—William C. Fitzgerald, University of California, Berkeley

Editorial Reviews

From the perspectives of present interest and future research-areas this thought-provoking collection is extremely valuable.
—Christine Walde, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

For classicists wanting a new perspective on gender studies . . . and for those interested in ancient and modern theories of vision, it will be a resource for years to come.
—Elizabeth H. Sutherland, American Journal of Philology

These nine essays collectively make the case for Rome as a missing link in the historical formulation of the gaze . . . A thought-provoking collection.
—Andrew Feldherr, American Historical Review

From the Publisher

From the perspectives of present interest and future research-areas this thought-provoking collection is extremely valuable.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review - Christine Walde

For classicists wanting a new perspective on gender studies . . . and for those interested in ancient and modern theories of vision, it will be a resource for years to come.

American Journal of Philology - Elizabeth H. Sutherland

These nine essays collectively make the case for Rome as a missing link in the historical formulation of the gaze . . . A thought-provoking collection.

American Historical Review - Andrew Feldherr

These nine essays collectively make the case for Rome as a missing link in the historical formulation of the gaze... A thought-provoking collection.

— Andrew Feldherr

American Historical Review

For classicists wanting a new perspective on gender studies... and for those interested in ancient and modern theories of vision, it will be a resource for years to come.

— Elizabeth H. Sutherland

American Journal of Philology

From the perspectives of present interest and future research-areas this thought-provoking collection is extremely valuable.

— Christine Walde

Bryn Mawr Classical Review