11 research outputs found
Mundus inversus: Fiktion und Wirklichkeit in Martials BĂŒchern XIII und XIV
Analysis of Martialâs epigrams 13.71 and 14.120, where some objects introduce themselves
A Saturnalian Poet as a Literary Critic: The Carnivalesque Poetics of Martialâs Apophoreta 183-196
This paper analyzes a specific section of Martialâs Apophoreta (Book 14), the âlistâ of fourteen literary works that the poet-persona suggests to the reader as potentially suitable presents to give to friends on the occasion of the Saturnalia. It focuses strictly on the literary aspects of the poems and their underlying carnivalesque poetics. This includes an assessment of the logic of the poemsâ arrangement and alleged inconsistencies. It is suggested that the section be read as a complex statement of Martialâs on various works and genres of Greek and Roman literature. The last couplet of the section (14.196), a certain Calvusâ work âOn the use of cold waterâ (De aquae frigidae usu), which is unidentifiable, receives particular attention, for previous scholarship has wasted a lot of ink on guessing what kind of work this may have been, thereby losing touch with the rich (meta-)poetics the couplet actually conveys.This paper analyzes a specific section of Martialâs Apophoreta (Book 14), the âlistâ of fourteen literary works that the poet-persona suggests to the reader as potentially suitable presents to give to friends on the occasion of the Saturnalia. It focuses strictly on the literary aspects of the poems and their underlying carnivalesque poetics. This includes an assessment of the logic of the poemsâ arrangement and alleged inconsistencies. It is suggested that the section be read as a complex statement of Martialâs on various works and genres of Greek and Roman literature. The last couplet of the section (14.196), a certain Calvusâ work âOn the use of cold waterâ (De aquae frigidae usu), which is unidentifiable, receives particular attention, for previous scholarship has wasted a lot of ink on guessing what kind of work this may have been, thereby losing touch with the rich (meta-)poetics the couplet actually conveys