The Roman Paratext
Frame, Texts, Readers

The first synoptic study of the interplay of frame, texts and readers in classical studies.

Laura Jansen (Edited by)

9781107024366, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 March 2014

334 pages, 20 b/w illus. 4 tables
25.3 x 18 x 2 cm, 0.83 kg

What is a paratext, and where can we find it in a Roman text? What kind of space does a paratext occupy, and how does this space relate to the text and its contexts? How do we interpret Roman texts 'paratextually'? And what does this approach suggest about a work's original modes of plotting meaning, or the assumptions that underpin our own interpretation? These questions are central to the conceptual and practical concerns of the volume, which offers a synoptic study of Roman paratextuality and its exegesis within the broad sphere of Roman studies. Its contributions, which span literary, epigraphic and visual culture, focus on a wide variety of paratextual features - e.g. titles and inter-titles, prefaces, indices, inscriptions, closing statements, decorative and formalistic details - and other paratextual phenomena, such as the frames that can be plotted at various intersections of a text's formal organization.

Introduction: approaches to Roman paratextuality Laura Jansen
1. Crossing the threshold: Genette, Catullus, and the psychodynamics of paratextuality Duncan F. Kennedy
2. Starting with the index in Pliny Roy Gibson
3. The topography of the law book: common structure and modes of reading Matthijs Wibier
4. Cicero's capita Shane Butler
5. Tarda solacia: liminal temporalities of Statius' prose prefaces Grant Parker
6. Inter-titles as deliberate misinformation in Ammianus Marcellinus Roger Rees
7. Paratextual perspectives upon the SC de Pisone Patre Alison Cooley
8. Paratext and intertext in the Propertian poetry book Donncha O'Rourke
9. Pictorial paratexts: floating figures in Roman wall painting Hérica Valladares
10. The paratext of Amores 1: gaming the system Ellen Oliensis
11. 'Sealing' the book: the sphragis as paratext Irene Peirano
12. Paraintertextuality: Spenser's classical paratexts in The Shepheardes Calender Bruce Gibson
13. Modern covers and paratextual strategy in Ovidian elegy Laura Jansen.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literature: history & criticism [DS]