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OverviewA major new interpretation of Vergil's epic poem as a struggle between two incompatible versions of the Homeric heroThis compelling book offers an entirely new way of understanding the Aeneid. Many scholars regard Vergil's poem as an attempt to combine Homer's Iliad and Odyssey into a single epic. Joseph Farrell challenges this view, revealing how the Aeneid stages an epic contest to determine which kind of story it will tell-and what kind of hero Aeneas will be.Farrell shows how this contest is provoked by the transgressive goddess Juno, who challenges Vergil for the soul of his hero and poem. Her goal is to transform the poem into an Iliad of continuous Trojan persecution instead of an Odyssey of successful homecoming. Farrell discusses how ancient critics considered the flexible Odysseus the model of a good leader but censured the hero of the Iliad, the intransigent Achilles, as a bad one. He describes how the battle over which kind of leader Aeneas will prove to be continues throughout the poem, and explores how this struggle reflects in very different ways on the ethical legitimacy of Rome's emperor, Caesar Augustus.By reframing the Aeneid in this way, Farrell demonstrates how the purpose of the poem is to confront the reader with an urgent decision between incompatible possibilities and provoke uncertainty about whether the poem is a celebration of Augustus or a melancholy reflection on the discontents of a troubled age. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Joseph FarrellPublisher: Princeton University Press Imprint: Princeton University Press ISBN: 9780691211169ISBN 10: 0691211167 Pages: 384 Publication Date: 29 June 2021 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Temporarily unavailable  The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you. Table of ContentsReviewsThoroughly researched. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews * A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Thoroughly researched. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews * A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Thoroughly researched. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews * A highly engaging, well-written, and thought-provoking take on the Aeneid, which will become an indispensable guide both to Virgil's text and to the long and rich tradition of scholarship on the poem. ---Anke Walter, Greece and Rome Author Information"Joseph Farrell is the M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Professor in the Humanities and professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His many books include Ennius' ""Annals"": Poetry and History and A Companion to Vergil's ""Aeneid"" and Its Tradition." Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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