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W. R. Johnson, A Latin Lover in Ancient Rome: Readings in Propertius and His Genre

W. R. Johnson, A Latin Lover in Ancient Rome: Readings in Propertius and His Genre

Publié le par Frédérique Fleck (Source : BMCR)


W. R. Johnson, A Latin Lover in Ancient Rome: Readings in Propertius and His Genre, Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2009. Pp. xiii, 165.

  • ISBN 9780814203996.
  • $29.95.

Recension par Randall Childree (Union College) dans Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009.10.19.

Extraits et table des matières en document joint (format pdf) au bas de la page.

Présentation de l'éditeur:

Over the centuries, Latin love elegy has inspired love poetry in the West from Petrarch to Pound. A Latin Lover in Ancient Rome: Readings in Propertius and His Genreoffers a critical reevaluation of the Latin elegiac poet Propertius,situating him within the social and political milieu of first-centuryBCE Rome. W. R. Johnson's study is centered on close readings of thepoems in Propertius' four books that emphasize both his celebration oferotic freedom as a manifestation of the sovereignty of the individualand his insistence on the value of this freedom, especially when it isthreatened by autocratic ideology. Many recent titles on Propertiushave tended to minimize or ignore this aspect of the poet's work,concentrating instead on neo-formalism or Lacanian psychology. Johnsonrestores Propertius' erotic creed and his politics to the core of hispoetics and his career. He offers a vivid picture of the sociopoliticaland erotic world of the late Roman Republic and the early years of theEmpire which hatched Latin love elegy and allowed it to flourish. Thisstudy aims to redirect attention to the pleasures and energiesPropertius provides that later generations of poets and readersdiscovered in and through him.