Writing, Performance, and Authority in Augustan Rome (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780199545674)

In Writing, Performance, and Authority in Augustan Rome Michele Lowrie examines how the Romans conceived of their poetic media. Song has links to the divine through prophecy, while writing offers a more quotisian, but also more realistic way of presenting what a poet does. In a culture of highly polished book production where recitation was the fashion, to claim to sing or to write was one means of self-definition. Lowrie assesses the stakes of poetic claims to one medium or another. Generic definition is an important factor. Epic and lyric have traditional associations with song, while the literacy epistle is obviously written. But issuess of poetic interpretability and power matter even more. The choice of medium contributes to the debate about the relative potency of rival discourses, specifically poetry, politics, and the law. Writing could offer an escape from the social and political demands of the moment by shifting the focus toward the readership of posterity.

Author: Michele Lowrie
ISBN-10: 0199545677
ISBN-13: 9780199545674
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 12/20/2009
Pages: 448
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.80lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.50w x 1.30d