The Transvestite Achilles
Gender and Genre in Statius' Achilleid

Offers the first book-length examination of Statius' unfinished epic, the Achilleid.

P. J. Heslin (Author)

9780521851459, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 August 2005

370 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.8 cm, 0.655 kg

'[The author's] profound familiarity with classical literature enables him to approach the issue from a wide perspective and pay attention to versatile conventions and details. Through structural and linguistic analysis the author is able to expose Statius' subtle and humoristic treatment of classical literature. … Heslin's profound orientation on the subject enables the reader to consider the Achilleid not only as a successful epic narrative, but also as a reflection of the whole range of classical literature preceding the imperial era - a respectful nod to the great classical authors, and a witty parody of genre-related clichés. … All in all, Heslin's survey is an admirable pursuit to fill the void concerning the study of the Achilleid by classical scholars.' De novis libris iudicia

Statius' Achilleid is a playful, witty, and open-ended epic in the manner of Ovid. As we follow Achilles' metamorphosis from wild boy to demure girl to lover to hero, the poet brilliantly illustrates a series of contrasting codes of behaviour: male and female, epic and elegiac. This first full-length study of the poem addresses not only the narrative itself, but also sets the myth of Achilles on Scyros within a broad interpretive framework. The exploration ranges from the reception of the Achilleid in Baroque opera to the anthropological parallels that have been adduced to explain Achilles' transvestism. The study's expansive approach, which includes Ovid and Ovidian reception, psychoanalytic perspectives and theorizations of gender in antiquity, makes it essential reading not only for students of Statius, but for students of Latin literature, and of gender in antiquity.

Introduction
1. Opening nights at the opera 1641–1741
2. The design of the Achilleid
3. Womanhood, rhetoric, and performance
4. Semivir, Semifer, Semideus
5. Transvestism in myth and ritual
6. Rape, repetition, and romance
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ], Opera [AVGC9]