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Women and War in Roman Epic
Series: - The Language of Classical Literature, Volume: 33
Author:
In
Women and War in Roman Epic, Elina Pyy discusses the narrative and ideological functions of gender in the works of Virgil, Lucan, Statius, Silius Italicus and Valerius Flaccus. By examining the themes of violence, death, guilt, grief, and anger in their epics, she offers an account of the intertextual tradition of the genre and its socio-political background. Through a combination of classical narratology and Julia Kristeva’s subjectivity theory, Pyy scrutinises how gendered marginality is constructed in the genre and how it contributes to the fashioning of Roman imperial identity. Focusing on the ambiguous elements of epic, the study looks beyond the binary oppositions between the Self and the Other, male and female, and Roman and barbarian.
Elina Pyy, Ph.D. (2014, University of Helsinki) is the vice director of the Finnish Institute in Rome. She has published several articles on gender and identity in Roman literature, as well as the monograph
The Semiotics of Caesar Augustus (Bloomsbury, 2018).
''This is a strong book that will be essential reading for scholars and students of Roman epic, particularly the ever-growing coterie of Flavian epic devotees.'' Andrew McClellan, in
Rhea Classical Review (02.2022)
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
1 Subjects, Abjects and Others: The Narrative Construction of Subject Positions in War Epic
2 Origins of War
1 Casus belli: War-Bringing Marriages and Ill-Omened Brides
2 Warmongering Furies and Active Agitators
3 Divine Interventions and Semiotic furor: Virgil’s Amata and Turnus
3 Victims of War: Gendered Dynamics of Suffering
1 The Victimised Female Body and the Construction of Roman Identity
2 The Victim’s Viewpoint: Female Gaze and Epic Subjectivity
3 Marginal Mothers? The Threatening Overtones of Maternal Fear
4 Grief, Lament and the Dissolution of Differences
4 ‘Playing Supermen’: The Manly Matrons of Roman Epic
1 Mentem aequare viros et laudis poscere partem: Female Groups in Defense of Their Cities
2 Fida coniunx: comes ultima fati?
3 Da mihi castra sequi: The Female Intrusion in the World of War
5 Means of Production or Weapons of Destruction? Gender and Violence in Roman War Epic
1 Manly Men versus Effeminate Others: Armed Violence in the Construction of Romanitas
2 Women in Arms: The Absolute Other?
3 Bellatrix virgo: An Outsider or an Insider?
4 Fragile Warriors and the Questioning of the Male Subject Position
6 Sabine Successors? The Failure of Female Mediation
1 The Futility of mora, the Failure of Mediation: Mixing and Juxtaposing Epic with Historiography
2 Functional Failures: Epic Women Tangled Up with War
7 Dynamics of Death
1 Death, Power and Narrative Control: Creusa, Dido, and Cleopatra
2 Getting Rid of the Queen: The Archetype of regina moritura
8 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
1 Introduction
1 Subjects, Abjects and Others: The Narrative Construction of Subject Positions in War Epic
2 Origins of War
1 Casus belli: War-Bringing Marriages and Ill-Omened Brides
2 Warmongering Furies and Active Agitators
3 Divine Interventions and Semiotic furor: Virgil’s Amata and Turnus
3 Victims of War: Gendered Dynamics of Suffering
1 The Victimised Female Body and the Construction of Roman Identity
2 The Victim’s Viewpoint: Female Gaze and Epic Subjectivity
3 Marginal Mothers? The Threatening Overtones of Maternal Fear
4 Grief, Lament and the Dissolution of Differences
4 ‘Playing Supermen’: The Manly Matrons of Roman Epic
1 Mentem aequare viros et laudis poscere partem: Female Groups in Defense of Their Cities
2 Fida coniunx: comes ultima fati?
3 Da mihi castra sequi: The Female Intrusion in the World of War
5 Means of Production or Weapons of Destruction? Gender and Violence in Roman War Epic
1 Manly Men versus Effeminate Others: Armed Violence in the Construction of Romanitas
2 Women in Arms: The Absolute Other?
3 Bellatrix virgo: An Outsider or an Insider?
4 Fragile Warriors and the Questioning of the Male Subject Position
6 Sabine Successors? The Failure of Female Mediation
1 The Futility of mora, the Failure of Mediation: Mixing and Juxtaposing Epic with Historiography
2 Functional Failures: Epic Women Tangled Up with War
7 Dynamics of Death
1 Death, Power and Narrative Control: Creusa, Dido, and Cleopatra
2 Getting Rid of the Queen: The Archetype of regina moritura
8 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
All interested in the tradition of ancient war epic, Roman imperial identity or gender in Roman culture and literature. Especially scholars and post-graduate students of Latin, ancient history, gender studies or comparative literature, as well as academic libraries and institutes.