Reckford Recognizing Persius

Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-3075-6
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten

Reihe: Martin Classical Lectures

Recognizing Persius is a passionate and in-depth exploration of the libellus--or little book--of six Latin satires left by the Roman satirical writer Persius when he died in AD 62 at the age of twenty-seven. In this comprehensive and reflectively personal book, Kenneth Reckford fleshes out the primary importance of this mysterious and idiosyncratic writer. Reckford emphasizes the dramatic power and excitement of Persius's satires--works that normally would have been recited before a reclining, feasting audience. In highlighting the satires' remarkable honesty, Reckford shows how Persius converted Roman satire into a vehicle of self-exploration and self-challenge that remains relevant to readers today.

The book explores the foundations of Roman satire as a performance genre: from the dinner-party recitals of Lucilius, the founder of the genre, through Horace, to Persius's more intense and inward dramatic monologues. Reckford argues that despite satire's significant public function, Persius wrote his pieces first and mainly for himself. Reckford also provides the context for Persius's life and work: his social responsibilities as a landowner; the interplay between his life, his Stoic philosophy, and his art; and finally, his incomplete struggle to become an honest and decent human being. Bringing the modern reader to a closer and more nuanced acquaintance with Persius's work, Recognizing Persius reinstates him to the ranks of the first-rate satirists, alongside Horace and Juvenal.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Reckford, Kenneth J.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Lyrik und Dichter
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Literaturwissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix

PROLOGUE: In Search of Persius 1

CHAPTER ONE: Performing Privately 16

"Who'll read this stuff?" (Satire 1) 17

"In Different Voices" 21

Performing satire (1): Lucilius 25

Performing satire (2): Horace 32

Three Bad Performances 39

Persius's Return to the Colors 46

Appendix: The Choliambics 52

CHAPTER TWO: Seeking Integrity 56

Hypocrisy and Self-Deception (Satire 2) 57

Called to Virtue (Satire 3) 63

Where Horace Left Off 68

Division Problems 77

Autobiographical Fragments 82

Images of Dissolution 87

Recomposing a Life 91

Appendix: Epictetus, Diatribe, and Persius 96

CHAPTER THREE: Exploring Freedom 102

Shadows of Falsehood (Satire 4) 103

Modes of Disclosure (Satire 5) 108

"Every Fool a Slave" 118

Another Dissident Under Nero 124

CHAPTER FOUR: Life, Death, and Art 130

Between Volterra and Rome 131

The Land, the Sea, and the Heir (Satire 6) 136

Reading the libellus: Children and Grown-ups 144

Recognizing Persius 151

EPILOGUE: From Persius to Juvenal 161

NOTES 181

BIBLIOGRAPHY 219

GENERAL INDEX 233

INDEX LOCORUM 237

Über Autor(innen)

Kenneth J. Reckford is the Kenan Professor Emeritus of Greek and Latin in the Department of Classics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His books include Aristophanes' Old-And-New Comedy.