ABOUT THIS BOOK

The elegiac poet Propertius responds in his verse to the complex changes that Rome underwent in his period, taking on numerous topics including poetic and sexual rivalry, visual art, violence, inability to control the elusive mistress, imperialism, colonialism, civil war, the radical new shape of the Roman state under the new monarch Augustus, and more. These essays, by well-known scholars of Roman elegy, offer new ways of reading Propertius’ topics, attitudes, and poetics.

This book begins with two distinguished essays by the late Barbara Flaschenriem, whose work on Propertius remains influential. The other contributions, offered in honor of her, are by Diane Rayor, Andrew Feldherr, Ellen Greene, Lowell Bowditch, Alison Keith, and volume editor Sharon L. James. These essays explore topics including Propertian didacticism, dream interpretation, visual art and formalism, sex and violence, Roman imperialism and its connection to the elegiac puella, and Propertius’ engagement, in Book 4, with Vergil’s poetry.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Sharon L. James is Professor of Classics at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

REVIEWS

“This is a collection that, while being wholly current, captures the distinctive feel of a generation of North American work on Augustan erotic elegy in which the honoree herself participated with distinction. The contributors, all broadly contemporary with one another, contribute essays that simultaneously show their own strengths and capture a sense of the milieu in which Barbara Flaschenriem’s work was designed to be read.”
—Stephen Hinds, University of Washington

— Stephen Hinds

"Readers of Propertius and of Roman elegy will learn much from the rich essays in this volume, both those by Flaschenriem and those in her honor."
—Bryn Mawr Classical Review

— Jeri DeBrohun, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

“This book elegantly—and not without some inner, yet productive tensions—throws new light on the elegies of Propertius and their most conspicuous character in addition to the poet himself: Cynthia.”
—Thea Thorsen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

— Thea Thorsen

"The recent volume edited by Sharon James, Golden Cynthia: Essays on Propertius, demonstrates the merits and limitations of a methodology based on psychoanalytic interpretative categories, gender studies, and interdisciplinarity, declined in the relationship between poetry and figurative art...the contributions collected in this volume undoubtedly go in the direction of broadening the readership, a highly topical issue for disciplines such as philology and, in particular, for authors less known to the general publics such as Propertius."
--ExClass — ExClass

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents

Foreword Diane Rayor
Introduction Sharon L. James
Chapter 1        Barbara Flaschenriem, “The Beloved as Dreamer and Objet d’Art: Propertius 1.3, 2.29a and 2.29b
Chapter 2        Barbara Flaschenriem, “Scenes of Instruction: Propertius 3.3 and 4.7”
Chapter 3        Andrew Feldherr, “Moving Parts: The New Form(alism) of Prop. 2.12”
Chapter 4        Ellen Greene, “Sex and Violence in Propertius”
Chapter 5        Lowell Bowditch, “Roman Cultural Imperialism and Cynthia’s Imperium Sine Fine”
Chapter 6        Alison Keith, “Vergilian Loci in Propertius Book 4”
Chapter 7        Sharon L. James, “Blandi praecepta Properti: What Propertius Teaches”

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