Catullus (eBook)

Julia Haig Gaisser is Eugenia Chase Guild Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at Bryn Mawr College, and a past president of the American Philological Association. She is the author of Catullus and His Renaissance Readers (1993), Pierio Valeriano on the Ill Fortune of Learned Men: A Renaissance Humanist and His World (1999), and The Fortunes of Apuleius and the Golden Ass: A Study in Transmission and Reception (2008), and the editor of Catullus in English (2001), and Catullus (2007).

List of Figures viii

Preface ix

1 Introduction: The Young Poet in Rome 1

2 Poetry Books 22

3 The Catullan Persona 45

4 What Makes It Poetry 72

5 Poetic Architecture 100

6 Songs for Mixed Voices: Allusions, Intertexts, and
Translations 133

7 Receiving Catullus 1: From Antiquity through the Sixteenth
Century 166

8 Receiving Catullus 2: England and America 194

Appendix 1 Catullus' Meters 222

Appendix 2 Glossary of Metrical and Rhetorical Terms 223

Bibliography 225

General Index 235

Index of Catullus' Poems 242

"Gaisser (emer., Bryn Mawr College), who has written extensively on
ancient Roman poetry and Renaissance Latin literature, has produced
an excellent comprehensive guide to the major Roman poet Catullus."
(CHOICE, December 2009)

"Such a simple and yet profound book could only have been written
by someone with the authority conferred by a detailed knowledge of
Catullus' work, its transmission and its reception over the ages.
... I consider [it] the best existing survey on Catullus."
(Bryn Mawr Classical Review, December 2009)

"An essential contribution to Catullan studies, this volume deftly
introduces readers to fundamental issues: formation of the
collection; the speaking voice; verbal and structural techniques;
intertextuality; reception both ancient and contemporary."

-Marilyn B. Skinner, University of Arizona

"Gaisser speaks with authority about every aspect of
Catullus' poetry. From now on, when my students, at whatever
level, ask for a single book introduction to Catullus, I will
recommend this one."

-Andrew Feldherr, Princeton

"A panoramic introduction that--like Catullus himself--is
learned, accessible and luminous, rich with insights on poetic
sound and architecture, intertextuality and literary reception.
Gaudete, Veneres Cupidinesque, and readers of Catullus new and
old."

-Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland, College
Park