{"product_id":"author-unknown-tom-geue-9780674988200","title":"Author Unknown: The Power of Anonymity in Ancient Rome","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn exploration of the darker corners of ancient Rome to spotlight the strange sorcery of anonymous literature.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom Banksy to Elena Ferrante to the unattributed parchments of ancient Rome, art without clear authorship fascinates and even offends us. Classical scholarship tends to treat this anonymity as a problem or game--a defect to be repaired or mystery to be solved. \u003ci\u003eAuthor Unknown\u003c\/i\u003e is the first book to consider anonymity as a site of literary interest rather than a gap that needs filling. We can tether each work to an identity, or we can stand back and ask how the absence of a name affects the meaning and experience of literature. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTom Geue turns to antiquity to show what the suppression or loss of a name can do for literature. Anonymity supported the illusion of Augustus's sprawling puppet mastery (\u003ci\u003eRes Gestae\u003c\/i\u003e), controlled and destroyed the victims of a curse (Ovid's \u003ci\u003eIbis\u003c\/i\u003e), and created out of whole cloth a poetic persona and career (Phaedrus's \u003ci\u003eFables\u003c\/i\u003e). To assume these texts are missing something is to dismiss a source of their power and presume that ancient authors were as hungry for fame as today's. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this original look at Latin literature, Geue asks us to work with anonymity rather than against it and to appreciate the continuing power of anonymity in our own time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Tom Geue\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674988205\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674988200\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 376\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.55lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.20d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2020","brand":"Tom Geue","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48086763864319,"sku":"9780674988200","price":49.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_0e401a6e-90ae-4d61-8f5e-57f83fc70006.jpg?v=1769096438","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/author-unknown-tom-geue-9780674988200","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}