In recent decades, Latin love poetry has become a significant site for feminist and other literary critics studying conceptions of gender and sexuality in ancient Roman culture. This new volume, the first to focus specifically on gender dynamics in Latin love poetry, moves beyond the polarized critical positions that argue that this poetry either confirms traditional gender roles or subverts them. Rather, the essays in the collection explore the ways in which Latin erotic texts can have both effects, shifting power back and forth between male and female. If there is one conclusion that emerges, it is that the dynamics of gender in Latin amatory poetry do not map in any single way onto the cultural and historical norms of Roman society. In fact, as several essays show, there is a dialectical relationship between this poetry and Roman cultural practices. By complicating the views of gender dynamics in Latin love poetry, this exciting new scholarship will stimulate further debates in classical studies and literary criticism with its fresh perspectives.

About the Author
Ronnie Ancona is a professor of classics at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, The City University of New York. Ellen Greene is the Joseph Paxton Presidential Professor of Classics at the University of Oklahoma.

Reviews
The volume as a whole is valuable... A successful and thought-provoking collection. -- Roy Gibson Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007 Admirably ambitious in the range of texts and authors that it covers... Gendered Dynamics shows a welcome spirit of adventure in the many contributions which cast strikingly different perspectives on given problems or texts. -- Gareth Williams Journal of Roman Studies 2009 This collection will surely help to shape the future contours of this field. -- Genevieve LIvely International Journal of the Classical Tradition 2008



Book Information
ISBN 9780801881985
Author Ronnie Ancona
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 658g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 31mm