The epic distilled : studies in the composition of the Aeneid / Nicholas Horsfall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Horsfall, Nicholas, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Virgil. Aeneis.

Virgil.

Aeneis (Virgil).

Epic poetry, Latin--History and criticism.

Epic poetry, Latin.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xv, 160 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

The Epic Distilled is a rich exploration of Virgil's use of sources in the Aeneid, considering elements of history, geography, mythology, and ethnography. Building on and developing the research involved in the author's monumental commentaries on the Aeneid, the volume investigates how the poem was written, what Virgil read, and why particular details are interwoven into the narrative. The volume looks beyond the Aeneid's poetry and plot to focus on the 'matter' of the epic: details of color, material, arms, clothing, landscape, and physiology. Details which might seem trivial are revealed as carefully deliberate and highly significant. For instance, one Trojan's specifically oriental trousers are suggestive of the Trojans' non-Roman 'otherness' and fit solidly into a complex ethnographic argument. In this way, the meaning and implications of Virgil's heavily allusive style, including practices and techniques of composition, are unpicked meticulously. Particularly difficult and intricate passages are delved into and the significance of specific details, legends, arcane references, places, names, digressions, and inconsistencies are uncovered. By exposing new layers of illuminating material, The Epic Distilled offers readers a fresh approach to understanding the full intellectual texture of Virgil's epic poem. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 To peel the artichoke 1

2 'Ceaselessly wrangling in the bird-cage of the Muses' 17

3 Doctus et lector 31

4 Erudition and invention 45

5 The invention of myth 61

6 Inconsistencies 79

7 Signposts by the wayside 95

8 So the story goes 111

9 The poet as jackdaw, and the role of anachronisms 135

10 An epic of many voices 145.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages xiii-xiv) and index.

ISBN:

9780198758877

0198758871

OCLC:

944013823