Cassandra and the Poetics of Prophecy in Greek and Latin Literature

Using insights from translation theory, this book uncovers the value of female prophets' riddling prophecies in Greek and Latin poetry.

Emily Pillinger (Author)

9781108473934, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 April 2019

274 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.53 kg

'… this rich monograph provides a multifaceted view of Cassandra from Aeschylus to Seneca that stresses again and again Cassandra's own polyvalence as a figure of translation.' Christopher Trinacty, Classical Philology

This book explores the miscommunications of the prophet Cassandra - cursed to prophesy the truth but never to be understood until too late - in Greek and Latin poetry. Using insights from the field of translation studies, the book focuses on the dialogic interactions that take place between the articulation and the realization of Cassandra's prophecies in five canonical ancient texts, stretching from Aeschylus' to Seneca's Agamemnon. These interactions are dogged by confusion and misunderstanding, but they also show a range of interested parties engaged in creatively 'translating' meaning for themselves from Cassandra's ostensibly nonsensical voice. Moreover, as the figure of Cassandra is translated from one literary work into another, including into the Sibyl of Virgil's Aeneid, her story of tragic communicative disability develops into an optimistic metaphor for literary canon-formation. Cassandra invites us to reconsider the status and value of even the most riddling of female prophets in ancient poetry.

Introduction: translating Cassandra
1. Understanding too much: Aeschylus' Agamemnon
2. Rewriting her-story: Euripides' Trojan Women
3. A scholarly prophet: Lycophron's Alexandra
4. Greco-Roman Sibylline scripts: Virgil's Aeneid
5. Cassandra translated: Seneca's Agamemnon
Conclusion: transposing Cassandra.

Subject Areas: Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Translation & interpretation [CFP]