I, the Poet

Kathleen McCarthy

Description

First-person poetry is a familiar genre in Latin literature. Propertius, Catullus, and Horace deployed the first-person speaker in a variety of ways that either bolster or undermine the link between this figure and the poet himself. In I, the Poet, Kathleen McCarthy offers a new approach to understanding the ubiquitous use of a first-person voice in Augustan-age poetry, taking on several of the central debates in the field of Latin literary studies-including the inheritance of the Greek tradition, the shift from oral performance to written collections, and the status of the poetic "I-voice."In light of her own experience as a twenty-first century reader, for whom Latin poetry is meaningful across a great gulf of linguistic, cultural, and historical distances, McCarthy positions these poets as the self-conscious readers of and heirs to a long tradition of Greek poetry, which prompted them to explore radical forms of communication through the poetic form. Informed in part by the "New Lyric Studies," I, the Poet will appeal not only to scholars of Latin literature but to readers across a range of literary studies who seek to understand the Roman contexts which shaped canonical poetic genres.

Sujets

• Literary theory

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501739569
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

 I, THE POET

I,THEPOET F I RST PE RSON F ORM I N HORACE , CAT UL LUS, AND PROPE RT I US n

K at h l e e n M c C a rt h y

CORNELLUNIVERSITYPRESS Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2019 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2019 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: McCarthy, Kathleen, 1962– author. Title: I, the poet : first-person form in Horace, Catullus, and Propertius / Kathleen McCarthy. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019011316 (print) | LCCN 2019013345 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501739576 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501739569 (pdf ) | ISBN 9781501739552 | ISBN 9781501739552 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: Latin poetry—History and criticism— Theory, etc. | Horace—Criticism and interpretation. | Catullus, Gaius Valerius—Criticism and interpretation. | Propertius, Sextus—Criticism and interpretation. | First person narrative. | Point of view (Literature) | Self in literature. Classification: LCC PA6063 (ebook) | LCC PA6063 .M33 2019 (print) | DDC 874/.010923—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019011316

 Contents

Acknowledgmentsvii

 Introduction: Voices on the Page1 SpeakerandPoet17 PerformanceandText23 OverviewofI, the Poet32 1. Poetry as Conversation38 ConversationinPropertiusBook144 TheEgoasPoet?49 Narration in Poem 1.3 55 Apostrophe and the Elegiac Voice 62 CharacterandVoice66 Excursus: Conversation in Catullus 76 2. Poetry as Performance81 Horace’sHymnsandDedications90 CatullanInvectiveasPerformance113 3. Poetry That Says “Ego”134 ThePropertianEgoinBook2137 The Catullan Ego as Writer and Reader 151 TheHoratianEgoinSymposium163 4. Poetry as Writing185 WritingandMediationinCatullus188 Horace’sPubliclyPrivateEpistles201  Epilogue: Ovid in Exile218

Works Cited229 General Index237 Index Locorum 242

 A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

Ihavehadthegreatgoodfortunetobesur- rounded for the last two decades by an extraordinary community of col- leagues, students, staff members, and friends who have given me both the intellectual stimulation and the support necessary to write this book. (It may take a village to raise a child, but it seems to have taken the population of a fair-sized metropolis to get this book across the finish line.) Because this book was so long in the making, I am unable to record all the names that should be included here; I apologize for those omissions. Firstandforemost(ineveryway)aretwopeoplewhohavebeenthebed- rock of my intellectual and professional life for many years: Leslie Kurke and Nelly Oliensis. Even if I had never met them, the published work of these two brilliant scholars would have been immensely influential for my own thinking. But, in addition to that gift, as friends and colleagues they have supported me and urged me on throughout this project. I can truly say that this book would never have been written without them. Iwouldalsoliketotakethisopportunitytothankthepeople(inaddition to Leslie and Nelly) who have read the book at various stages and helped me to see how I could improve it: Sue Schweik, Hertha Sweet Wong, Linda Rugg, Beth Piatote, Joe Farrell, Liz Young, Maurizio Bettini, Jane Raisch, Jocelyn Saidenberg, Morgan King, Tim Hampton, Mario Telò, John Shop- taw. The anonymous readers for the press generously gave me the benefit of their expertise and perspectives. I am very grateful for all the suggestions and advice I received; no one but myself is responsible for any errors that remain. Beyond those who responded to the manuscript itself is a much wider circle of interlocutors who have shaped my thinking about these authors, about Latin literary culture, and about poetry more broadly, including all my colleagues (both in Classics and in Comparative Literature), the Townsend Fellows Group of 2017–18, and many undergraduate and gradu- ate students over the years. Special thanks to Jim Phelan and the partici- pants of the Summer NEH Institute on narrative theory for stimulating discussion that helped shape my argument in important ways. Morgan King

vii

viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

provided important research assistance in the early phases, and Liz Harvey helped me enormously in the preparation of the final manuscript. Special thanks to Alex Press for his eagle eye. Deborah A. Oosterhouse did a won- derful job with the copy editing, and the whole team at Cornell University Press has been a pleasure to work with. I am also grateful for the support of the American Philosophical Society for a research fellowship.

  I, THE POET