Reading Sulpicia Commentaries 1475 - 1990 [Hardcover]

Focusing on the representation of the Augustan poet Sulpicia in commentaries, this book investigates the interpretative strategies involved in the reading of an ancient text. Mathilde Skoie discusses a selection of commentaries from the Renaissance to the present day, combining the history of classical scholarship, philology, feminist literary theory, and reception theory.

Introduction
1. The first steps: from antiquity to Cyllenius' 15th century commentary
2. Confronting a sibylline leaf: Scaliger's 16th century commentary
3. Male chivalry?: Heyne's 18th century commentary
4. Subtle poetry or feminine fiddling?: Two 19th century commentaries
5. Sulpicia Americana: Smith's 20th century commentary
6. The commentator as collector: Trankle's 1990 commentary
Conclusion: The hermenutics of commenting

The idea behind Skoie'sReading Sulpiciais an inspired one.... A marvellously wide-ranging and assured piece of scholarship. --Times Literary Supplement

Offers a fresh look at the tradition of scholarship that the poems have inspired.... A welcome contribution, both for what it reveals about the processes of reading intrinsic to the commentary and for the range of topics that it addresses. --American Journal of Philology

mathilde Skoie is Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo