Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


Engendering Rome

Engendering Rome

Engendering Rome

Women in Latin Epic
A. M. Keith, University of Toronto
April 2000
Paperback
9780521556217
AUD$67.23
exc GST
Paperback
USD
eBook

    Heroism has long been recognised by readers and critics of Roman epic as a central theme of the genre from Virgil and Ovid to Lucan and Statius. However the crucial role female characters play in the constitution and negotiation of the heroism on display in epic has received scant attention in the critical literature. This study represents an attempt to restore female characters to visibility in Roman epic and to examine the discursive operations that effect their marginalisation within both the genre and the critical tradition it has given rise to. The five chapters can be read either as self-contained essays or as a cumulative exploration of the gender dynamics of the Roman epic tradition. The issues addressed are of interest not just to classicists but also to students of gender studies.

    • In the successful Roman Literature and Its Contexts textbook series
    • Studies women in Latin epics from a feminist perspective
    • Examines the role of female characters in the epic poetry of Virgil, Ovid and others

    Reviews & endorsements

    ' … a significant contribution to the field and is sure to be appreciated by classicists, social historians, literary critics, and those interested in gender issues in ancient Rome … Specialists and undergraduate students alike will find much of the value in Engendering Rome and will gain many useful insights into the role of women and the construction of gender identity in Roman epic.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review

    'As it stands this little book describing the major roles of females in Latin epic and assessing the significance of the delineation of these rolls will surely become a necessary handbook for all readers and teachers of Latin epic.' Phyllis B Katz, New England Classical Journal

    '… accessible to specialists and non-specialists alike … well-articulated and certainly constitutes a valuable contribution to the field.' The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

    '… until now no single author has attempted in monograph form to provide an overview of the representation of women in Latin Epic. A. M. Keith's slim but thought-provoking monograph on the role of women in Roman epic poetry, published as part of the Cambridge University Press' series on 'Roman Literature and Its Contexts', is a timely and valuable contribution to the subject … unique and important … Anyone teaching or studying Roman epic and the role of women will need to consult it in the first instance.' Comptes Rendus

    See more reviews

    Product details

    January 2005
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9780511038129
    0 pages
    0kg
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Introduction: gender and genre
    • 2. Epic and education: the construction of Roman masculinity
    • 3. The ground of representation
    • 4. Exordia pugnae: engendering war
    • 5. Over her dead body
    • 6. Epilogue.
      Author
    • A. M. Keith , University of Toronto