The Cambridge Companion to Catullus

Comprehensive coverage, accessible to students and non-specialists, of one of the most popular poets of classical antiquity.

Ian Du Quesnay (Edited by), Tony Woodman (Edited by)

9781316644713, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 April 2021

410 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.3 cm, 0.59 kg

'… advanced students, teachers, and researchers looking to orient themselves in the scholarship on Catullus will benefit … Recommended.' M. L. Goldman, Choice Magazine

Catullus is one of the most popular poets to survive from classical antiquity. Above all others he seems to speak to modern readers with a modern voice. The distinguished contributors to this Companion discuss the principal subjects which drew Catullus' affection and disgust, above all his famous affair with the woman he calls 'Lesbia', and situate him in the social, historical and intellectual context of first-century BC Rome. One of the so-called 'new poets', Catullus had a profound effect on subsequent Latin poetry, and this is explored especially for the Augustan age and the late first century AD. A significant part of the volume is concerned with Catullus' survival into the modern world. There are discussions both of the manuscript tradition and of the interpretative scholarship which has been devoted to his poetry, as well as his reception by renaissance and later poets. Students in particular will appreciate this book.

Introduction
1. Situating Catullus Cynthia Damon
2. Literary liaisons Tony Woodman
3. Catullan intertextuality Richard F. Thomas
4. Gender and sexuality K. Sara Myers
5. Catullan themes Bruce Gibson
6. Language and style Anna Chahoud
7. Catullus and metre David Butterfield
8. Catulli carmina Ian du Quesnay
9. Catullus and Augustan poetry Monica R. Gale
10. Rewriting Catullus in the flavian age Carole Newlands
11. The manuscripts and transmission of the text S.P. Oakley
12. Editions and commentaries Dániel Kiss
13. Catullus in the renaissance Alex Wong
14. Catullus and poetry in english since 1750 Stephen Harrison
Abbreviations and bibliography
Index locorum
General index.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]