Virgil / Edition 1

by R. Alden Smith

Overview

VIRGIL

“A truly useful introduction to Vergil and his poetry. Smith combines up-to-date information on the issues with an intelligent and well-written assessment. Highly recommended.”

Karl Galinsky, University of Texas at Austin

“For the newcomer to Virgil, this book will be a welcome introduction to the poet’s works and their reception by critics, artists, and scholars through the centuries.”

Peter E. Knox, University of Colorado, Boulder

Incorporating the most up-to-date classical scholarship, Virgilian scholar R. Alden Smith presents a comprehensive introduction to Virgil’s literary works and narrative technique. In addition to exploring the historical milieu, this book considers the reception of Virgil’s works, citing examples from painting, sculpture, and drama. After analyzing Virgil’s three major works – the Eclogues, Georgics, and the great national epic of Rome, the Aeneid – Smith addresses other key topics, including the manuscript tradition and various problems associated with establishment of the text. Virgil’s legacy, including his influence on subsequent Latin poetry and later literary figures (e.g., Dante, Camões, Milton) is also a feature of this study. Combining scholarly rigor and an accessible writing style, Smith offers an insightful introduction to Virgil and the world in which he lived.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781405159494
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	10/04/2010
Series:	Blackwell Introductions to the Classical World , #21
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

R. Alden Smith is Professor of Classics at Baylor University. He is the author of Poetic Allusion and Poetic Embrace in Ovid and Virgil (1998) and The Primacy of Vision and Virgil’s Aeneid (2005), as well as many articles on Latin and Greek poetry, and Greek epigraphy.

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Table of Contents

List of Figures viii

Preface ix

Note on Abbreviations xi

1 Generalizing about Virgil: Dialogue, Wisdom, Mission 1

2 Publius Vergilius Maro: A Preamble 26

3 Eclogue Dialogues 40

4 The Georgics: A Repast of Wisdom 75

5 The Aeneid: Mission and Telos 104

6 Virgilian Manuscripts: Codex to Critical Edition 150

7 The Virgilian Legacy 168

8 Further Reading 188

Index 205

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A truly useful introduction to Vergil and his poetry. Smith combines up-to-date information on the issues with an intelligent and well-written assessment. Highly recommended.”
Karl Galinsky, University of Texas at Austin

"For the newcomer to Virgil, this book will be a welcome introduction to the poet’s works and their reception by critics, artists, and scholars through the centuries."
Peter E. Knox, University of Colorado, Boulder

Editorial Reviews

The real gem of this book comes in Chapter 6, where Smith offers a wonderfully concise and comprehensible overview of the Vergilian manuscripts with examples of textual problems that he teases out carefully to show why and how editors emend; teachers who wish to introduce textual criticism to advanced Latin students or to explain how Vergil got from ancient Rome to modern readers will find this section a superb resource . . . Chapter 8 closes the volume with ample suggestions for further reading that will be especially useful for those teaching Vergil for the first time, including much readily accessible material that can be used to fill those gaps in Smith’s book that will present difficulties to newcomers to Vergil and Classical literature.”  (Classical Journal,  1 December 2012)

"Overall this is a highly successful volume ... He is to be commended on producing a sensitive, sensible, and thoroughly useful book that will be of great help to students, teachers, and those who would like to gain insights on Vergilian matters and scholarship." (Vergilius, 2011)

"The present book contains eight chapters, one of the most valuable of which is a handsomely illustrated guide to the Virgilian manuscript tradition that constitutes a welcome primer with useful analyses of several textual cruces ... While volumes of this sort have little to offer seasoned scholars, S.'s book will be of interest and use to students of Virgil at all levels. The more experienced, too, will care to see how a gifted Virgilian treats both familiar problems and less travelled Maronian byways." (The Classical Review, 2011)

"Smith has written a guide that should become a standard for the next generation of Vergilian readers." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 11 June 2011)

From the Publisher