Overview

The passions were a topic of widespread interest in antiquity, as evidenced by the recent surge of interest and research in the emotions in Greek and Roman literature. Until now, however, there has been very little focus on love elegy or its relation to contemporary philosophical positions. Yet Roman love elegy depends crucially upon the passions: without love, anger, jealousy, pity, and fear, elegy could not exist at all. The Elegiac Passion provides the first investigation of the ancient representation of jealousy in its Roman context, as well as its significance for Roman love elegy itself. The poems of Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid are built upon the presumed existence of a love triangle involving poet, mistress, and rival: the very structure of elegy thus creates an ideal scenario for the arousal of jealousy. This study begins by examining the differences between the elegiac treatment of love and that of philosophy, whether Stoic or Epicurean. Ruth Caston uses the main chapters to address the depiction of jealousy in the love relationship and explores in detail the role of the senses, the role of readers--both those internal and external to the poems--, and the use of violence as a response to jealousy. Elegy provides a multi-faceted perspective on jealousy that gives us details and nuances of the experience of jealousy not found elsewhere in ancient literature. She argues that jealousy turns centrally on the question of fides. The fear of broken obligations and the consequent lack of trust are relevant not only to the love affair that forms the subject of these poems but to many other relationships represented in elegy as well. Overall, she demonstrates that jealousy is not merely the subject matter of elegy: it creates and structures elegy's various generic features. Jealousy thus provides a much more satisfying explanation for the specific character of Roman elegy than the various theories about its origins that have typically been put forward.

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9780199925902

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Reviews

This highly nuanced analysis is richly textured, accessible to a broad range of readers, and supported by an excellent, useful scholarly apparatus. Highly recommended. --CHOICE This is an engagingly written, creative, and frequently very persuasive book. --Rebecca Armstrong, Classical Journal This book poses an arresting new question--why is jealousy so pervasive in Latin love elegy?--and offers illuminating answers. Lucidly and attractively written, this study makes a valuable contribution to the study of emotions in Roman culture and offers a striking new viewpoint for reading Latin love elegy. --Christopher Gill, University of Exeter Has Roman love elegy lost its way? If so, Ruth Caston is a new voice in elegy, and her monograph offers a compelling new direction for the genre. No longer will ancient philosophy be dismissed as irrelevant or of limited value for understanding love elegy and the naked emotions in which it deals. Above all, jealousy--so curiously under--developed in other genres-is shown to create and structure many of the elements that we understand as fundamentally elegiac. --Roy Gibson, University of Manchester Caston's rich study is the first to focus specifically on jealousy as an abstraction crucial for the creation as well as for the understanding of Latin love elegy. After careful examination of specific texts, she brilliantly uses the Roman concept of fides to place her poets in their larger intellectual and social context. --Michael C. J. Putnam, Brown University An important book, whose ambition and skill are admirable, and whose approach will undoubtedly be influential on future work on Augustan elegy. --Bryn Mawr Classical Review

<br> This is an engagingly written, creative, and frequently very persuasive book. --Rebecca Armstrong, Classical Journal<p><br> This book poses an arresting new question--why is jealousy so pervasive in Latin love elegy?--and offers illuminating answers. Lucidly and attractively written, this study makes a valuable contribution to the study of emotions in Roman culture and offers a striking new viewpoint for reading Latin love elegy. --Christopher Gill, University of Exeter<p><br> Has Roman love elegy lost its way? If so, Ruth Caston is a new voice in elegy, and her monograph offers a compelling new direction for the genre. No longer will ancient philosophy be dismissed as irrelevant or of limited value for understanding love elegy and the naked emotions in which it deals. Above all, jealousy--so curiously under--developed in other genres-is shown to create and structure many of the elements that we understand as fundamentally elegiac. --Roy Gibson, University of Manchester<p><br>

<br> This book poses an arresting new question--why is jealousy so pervasive in Latin love elegy?--and offers illuminating answers. Lucidly and attractively written, this study makes a valuable contribution to the study of emotions in Roman culture and offers a striking new viewpoint for reading Latin love elegy. --Christopher Gill, University of Exeter<p><br> Has Roman love elegy lost its way? If so, Ruth Caston is a new voice in elegy, and her monograph offers a compelling new direction for the genre. No longer will ancient philosophy be dismissed as irrelevant or of limited value for understanding love elegy and the naked emotions in which it deals. Above all, jealousy--so curiously under--developed in other genres-is shown to create and structure many of the elements that we understand as fundamentally elegiac. --Roy Gibson, University of Manchester<p><br>

Author Information

Ruth Rothaus Caston is Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan.

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