Statius' Thebaid and the poetics of civil war / Charles McNelis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McNelis, Charles.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Statius, P. Papinius (Publius Papinius). Thebais.

Statius, P. Papinius.

Physical Description:

x, 203 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

This Study focuses on ways in which Statius' epic Thebaid, a poem about the civil war between Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polynices, reflects the theme of internal discord in its narrative strategies. At the same time that Statius reworks the Homeric and Virgilian epic traditions, he engages with Hellenistic poetic ideals as exemplified by Callimachus and the Roman Callimachean poets, especially Ovid. The result is a tension between the impulse towards the generic expectations of warfare and the desire for delay and postponement of such conflict. Ultimately, Statius adheres to the mythic paradigm of the mutual fratricide, but he continues to employ competing strategies that call attention to the fictive nature of any project of closure and conciliation. In the process, the poem offers a new mode of epic closure that emphasizes individual means of resolution.

Contents:

1 Gods, humans and the literary tradition 25

2 Beginning 50

3 Nemea 76

4 Middle 97

5 Heroic deaths 124

6 End 152

Index locorum 194.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 180-191) and indexes.

ISBN:

052186741X

OCLC:

71808160

Publisher Number:

9780521867412