The Arts of Love Five Studies in the Discourse of Roman Love Elegy [Paperback]

An examination of the love elegies of the Roman poets Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid.The love elegies of the Roman poets, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid, are examined from the point of view of the way the meanings attributed to the poems arise out of the interests and preoccupations of the cultural situation in which they are read.The love elegies of the Roman poets, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid, are examined from the point of view of the way the meanings attributed to the poems arise out of the interests and preoccupations of the cultural situation in which they are read.This book examines the love elegies of the Roman poets Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid from the point of view of the way the meanings attributed to the poems arise out of the interests and preoccupations of the cultural situation in which they are read. It combines detailed discussions of individual poems with discussion and criticism of a variety of sophisticated modern theoretical approaches. It thus aims to advance the argument not only in the field of elegy, but also in issues such as gender, ideology and the theory of reading.1. Representation and the rhetoric of reality; 2. Getting down to essentials; 3. Love's figures and tropes; 4. A lover's discourse; 5. An irregular in love's army: the problems of identification; Footnotes; Bibliography. What is most impressive throughout this book cannot be conveyed by any brief summary. In a practical sense, Kennedy reads elegy extremely well; his insights into particular passages and into the discourse of elegy as a whole are illuminating and important. Bryn Mawr Classical Review