The rhetoric of gender terms : 'man', 'woman', and the portrayal of character in Latin prose / by Francesca Santoro L'Hoir.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Santoro L'Hoir, Francesca.

Series:

Mnemosyne, Supplements 120.

Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum, 0169-8958 ; 120

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latin prose literature--History and criticism.

Latin prose literature.

Rhetoric, Ancient.

Sex--Terminology.

Sex.

Characters and characteristics in literature.

Literature.

Sex role in literature.

Rome--In literature.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Terminology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 216 pages).

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; New York : Brill, 1992.

Summary:

The aim of this work is to recover classical Roman assumptions about women on the basis of the surviving linguistic data. The author provides a control to her study of the connotations of the major Latin words for women in the form of a corresponding examination of how Roman authors use the various words for men. The resulting analysis throws light not only on Roman gender vocabulary but also on Roman cultural perceptions of class, moral worth and nationality. Furthermore, the author's detailed discussions of strictly linguistic evidence enable her to offer several original and persuasive insights about the traditional Latin literary representation of women. Understanding the connotative range of gender terms such as homo , vir , femina , mulier also reveals the value judgments made by ancient authors on male and female behaviour and can even be applied as a tool of historical analysis.

Contents:

Preliminary Material / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Introduction / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Cicero’s masculine terminology and rhetorical convention / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

The obscene mulier and the not-heard femina / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Sallust: factional politics through the looking-glass / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Ab Urbe Condita: when viri were VIRI / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Livian ladies: cardboard characters in feminine attire / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Velleius Paterculus: historicus patrioticus / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Tacitus: the tradition and its breaking / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

C. Plinius Secundus: man of letters / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Suetonius: Ciceronian shorthand / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Petronius and Apuleius: the good; the bad; and the nequissimi / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Conclusion / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Select Bibliography / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Index / Francesca Santoro L’hoir

Supplements to Mnemosyne.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-208) and index.

ISBN:

90-04-32916-1

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004329164 DOI