Plant of a Strange Vine: >Oratio Corrupta< and the Poetics of Senecan Tragedy (Beiträge zur Altertumskunde Book 363)

This book studies Seneca's poetic drama from a novel point of view. Whereas most criticism of Seneca's dramas has tended to focus on their relationship to Stoicism, I approach them from the perspective of Seneca's own theory of literary decadence, which he sets forth in the 114th of his letters to Lucilius. His theory can be summed up as follows: the various forms of stylistic corruption are the result of a straining for effect, which itself reflects a taste for the extreme. A writer or speaker's stylistic vices thus mirror the vices of his character; they also reflect the vices of the time and place in which he lives, since every user of language is conditioned by his environment. What is especially striking about Seneca's discussion is that a number of the vices he lists – hyperbole, disruption of natural word order, excessive metaphor – are notable features of the poetic style of his own dramas. I argue for a rehabilitation of the 'decadent' style of Seneca's tragedies: in Seneca's hands, this style is a precise diagnostic tool for revealing the self-destructive irrationality that governs not only the individual, but also his society and the entire universe. Using The 'oedipus' As A Test Case, This Book Proposes That Seneca's Tragedies Exemplify Seneca's Own Theory Of Literary Decadence As Expressed In His 114th Letter To Lucilius. Seneca Is Thus Revealed To Be Both Theorist And Practitioner Of What Has Conventionally Been Regarded As Neronian Decadence. Letter 114 And The Poetics Of Decadence -- A Senecan Reading Of Seneca's Oedipus, Part I : Language And The Diseased Animus; The Discourse Of Oedipus -- A Senecan Reading Of Seneca's Oedipus, Part Ii : Language And The Diseased Cosmos -- Seneca And Neronian Aesthetics. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 97-98) And Index. Foreword 5 Contents 7 Chapter One. Letter 114 and the Poetics of Decadence 9 Chapter Two. A Senecan Reading of Seneca’s Oedipus, Part I 26 Chapter Three. A Senecan Reading of Seneca’s Oedipus, Part II 64 Chapter Four. Seneca and Neronian Aesthetics 100 Bibliography 105 Subject index 107