The Roman Paratext Frame, Texts, Readers [Paperback]

The first synoptic study of the interplay of frame, texts and readers in classical studies.This book is for readers of classical literature and culture. It explores the role paratexts (e.g. indexes, prefaces, inter-titles) play in our reading and interpretation of Roman texts. It proposes a new direction in the criticism of the structure of Roman texts, and new understanding of reception in Latin literature.This book is for readers of classical literature and culture. It explores the role paratexts (e.g. indexes, prefaces, inter-titles) play in our reading and interpretation of Roman texts. It proposes a new direction in the criticism of the structure of Roman texts, and new understanding of reception in Latin literature.What is a paratext, and where can we find it in a Roman text? What kind of space does a paratext occupy, and how does this space relate to the text and its contexts? How do we interpret Roman texts 'paratextually'? And what does this approach suggest about a work's original modes of plotting meaning, or the assumptions that underpin our own interpretation? These questions are central to the conceptual and practical concerns of the volume, which offers a synoptic study of Roman paratextuality and its exegesis within the broad sphere of Roman studies. Its contributions, which span literary, epigraphic and visual culture, focus on a wide variety of paratextual features - e.g. titles and inter-titles, prefaces, indices, inscriptions, closing statements, decorative and formalistic details - and other paratextual phenomena, such as the frames that can be plotted at various intersections of a text's formal organization.Introduction: approaches to Roman paratextuality Laura Jansen; 1. Crossing the threshold: Genette, Catullus, and the psychodynamics of paratextuality Duncan F. Kennedy; 2. Starting with the index in Pliny Roy Gibson; 3. The topography of the law book: common structure and modes of reading Matthijs Wibier; 4. Cicero's capita Shane Butler; 5. l³.