The Cambridge Companion to Virgil

Presents stimulating chapters on Virgil and his reception, offering an authoritative overview of the current state of Virgilian studies.

Charles Martindale (Edited by), Fiachra Mac Góráin (Edited by)

9781316621349, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 April 2019

570 pages, 24 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.3 x 2.7 cm, 0.93 kg

The poet Virgil remains the most significant and influential figure in Latin literature, and this expanded and updated Companion covers his life, work, and reception from antiquity to the present. The Aeneid, the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the Appendix Vergiliana are all discussed, as are art, history, politics, and philosophy; Virgil's literary style is carefully explored along with poetic traditions before and since, and chapters engage with his poems and their reception from perspectives including intertextuality, narratology, gender theory, philology and historicism. Leading authors cover topics from translations and commentaries to genre, authority, and characterisation, providing revised and updated recommendations for further reading. This volume is an accessible introduction to Virgil and his legacy for students and teachers, while also providing wide-ranging and in-depth investigations that will appeal to scholars of classical literature and other disciplines.

1. Introduction: 'the classic of all Europe' Charles Martindale
Part I. Receptions: 2. Modern receptions and their interpretative implications: the case of T. S. Eliot Duncan F. Kennedy
3. Aspects of Virgil's reception in antiquity Richard Tarrant
4. The Appendix Vergiliana Scott McGill
5. Augustine's Virgil Gillian Clark
6a. The Virgil commentary of Servius Don Fowler (revised by Sergio Casali and Fabio Stok)
6b. Postclassical commentary Sergio Casali and Fabio Stok
7. Virgil in English translation Colin Burrow
8. Virgils from Dante to Milton Colin Burrow
9. Virgil in art L. B. T. Houghton
Part II. Forms: 10. Green politics: the Eclogues Charles Martindale
11. Virgilian didaxis: value and meaning in the Georgics William W. Batstone
12. Virgilian epic Duncan F. Kennedy
13. Closure and the Book of Virgil Elena Theodorakopoulos
Part III. Contexts: 14. Poetry and power: Virgil's poetry in a contemporary context Richard Tarrant
15. Rome and its traditions James E. G. Zetzel
16. Virgil and the cosmos: religious and philosophical ideas Susanna Braund
17. Virgil's intertextual personae Joseph Farrell
18. Virgil and tragedy Philip Hardie
Part IV. Themes: 19. Virgil as a poet Victoria Moul
20. Virgil's style James J. O'Hara
21. Character in Virgil Helen Lovatt
22a. Virgilian narrative: storytelling Don Fowler (revised by Alessandro Barchiesi)
22b. Virgilian narrative: ecphrasis Alessandro Barchiesi
23. Sons and lovers: sexuality and gender in Virgil's poetry Ellen Oliensis
24. Authority Fiachra Mac Góráin
Envois: 25. The death of Virgil Fiona Cox
26. Virgil: the future? Fiachra Mac Góráin
Dateline compiled by Genevieve Liveley.

Subject Areas: Literary companions, book reviews & guides [DSRC], Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Poetry by individual poets [DCF], Poetry [DC]