Mythical and Legendary Narrative in Ovid's Fasti (Mnemosyne: Bibliotheca Classica Batava Supplementum)

This book analyses the mythical and legendary narratives in Ovid's Fasti as narrative and concentrates on the neglected literary aspects of these stories. It combines traditional tools of literary criticism with more modern techniques (taken especially from narratology and intertextuality). From a narratological viewpoint it covers important features such as aperture, closure, characterization, internal narrators, description, space, time and cinematic technique. On the intertextual level it examines the narratives' complex relationship with Virgil, Livy and Ovid's own earlier works. Recent criticism on the Fasti has addressed various elements (religious, historical, political, astronomical et cetera), but detailed narrative study has been wanting. This book fills that gap, to provide a more informed and balanced appreciation of this multifaceted poem aimed at classicists and literary critics in general (for whom all the Latin is translated) Preface 11 Chapter One Introduction 15 Description 17 Space 20 Placement 23 Cinematic Techniques 28 Time 32 Rapidity 37 Chapter Two Other Voices 41 General Context 44 1.259ff. ( Janus) 46 1.469ff. (Carmentis) 48 1.543ff. (Carmentis) 50 3.179ff. (Mars) 51 3.277ff. (Egeria) 53 4.197ff. (Erato) 55 4.223ff. (Erato) 56 4.249ff. (Erato) 57 4.809ff. (Quirinus) 58 5.11ff. (Polyhymnia) 60 5.81ff. (Calliope) 61 5.195ff. (Flora) 63 5.231ff. (Flora) 65 5.451ff. (Mercury) 66 5.639ff. (Tiber) 69 5.699ff. (Mercury) 70 6.485ff. (Bacchus) 71 6.657ff. (Minerva) 73 6.697ff. (Minerva) 75 Chapter Three Rape Narratives 77 A Feminist Approach 78 A Narratological Approach 80 Polytonality 88 Rape as Challenge 95 Rape and Doctrina 102 Rape as Subversion 105 Rapes and Love Poetry 108 Chapter Four Ovid and Virgil 111 Techniques in Isolation 113 Apposite Associations 114 Elevation 114 Foreshadowing 116 Reader Deception 117 Oppositio in Imitando and Variatio 119 Aemulatio 121 Polemical Engagement 123 Parody 125 Simultaneous Virgilian Allusion 127 Contaminatio 130 Interfigurality 133 Episodes 140 Techniques in Combination 147 Chapter Five Characters 155 Economy 156 New/Rare Prominence 158 Recurring Characters 161 Greimas' Actant Model 165 Minimized and Elided Characters 170 Minor Characters 173 Developed Characters 177 Chapter Six Ovid and Livy 185 Part 1: The General Picture 186 Nature of the World Depicted 186 Approach and Usage 187 Methods of Narration 190 Part 2: Individual Narratives 194 The Fabii 195 Gabii 201 Lucretia 205 Tullia 215 Chapter Seven Aperture 221 Aperture Prior to the Narratives 222 Aperture in the Narratives Themselves: General Characteristics 224 Four Main Types of Openings 228 Colouring 233 The Narrative Hook 236 Mood 239 Having Fun with the Reader 241 Chapter Eight Ovid and Ovid 249 Doublets in the Fasti and Metamorphoses 249 Internal Self-Reference 266 Reprise of an Incident 267 Segmented Narration 269 Redeployment of Phraseology 272 Multiple Allusion 277 Chapter Nine Closure 283 A Standard Ending 284 Standard Features 287 A Deviant Ending 292 Deviations 296 Select Bibliography 303 General Index 309 Index of Ovidian Lines Discussed 312 "This book analyses the mythical and legendary narratives in Ovid's Fasti as narrative and concentrates on the neglected literary aspects of these stories. It combines traditional tools of literary criticism with more modern techniques (taken especially from narratology and intertextuality)." "From a narratological viewpoint it covers important features such as aperture, closure, characterization, internal narrators, description, space, time and cinematic technique. On the intertextual level it examines the narratives' complex relationship with Virgil, Livy and Ovid's own earlier works."--Jacket preface xiii expressed there). Two graduate students (Brad Johnson and Robert Nau) saved me many hours by doing valuable bibliographical searches for me. I would also like to thank Brill's anonymous referee for stimulating criticism of the penultimate draft. None of the above, of course, is responsible for any errors or infelicities in this book. This book analyses the mythical and legendary narratives in the Fasti as narrative. It covers aspects such as aperture, closure, characterization, internal narrators, description, space, time and also the narratives' complex relationship with Virgil, Livy and Ovid's own earlier works