Overview

This first in-depth study of Valerius Flaccus’ animals reveals their role in his poetic programme and the manifold ways in which he establishes their subjectivity. In one encounter, a trapped bird becomes a tragic victim, while the trapper is dehumanized. Elsewhere there are touching portrayals of animal/human camaraderie and friendship. Furthermore, Valerius’ provocative consideration of the ‘monstrous’ challenges simplistic definitions of any being’s nature, or the nature of relationships across species. His challenge entails profound ethical implications for his Roman readership, which resonate with us as we assess our own relationship to animals and the natural world today.

Full Product Details

Author:   Anne Elyse Tuttle Mackay
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   460
Weight:   0.610kg
ISBN:  

9789004519602

ISBN 10:   9004519602
Pages:   282
Publication Date:   30 June 2022
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations General Introduction  1 Background 1: Discussions in Valerian Scholarship  2 Background 2: The Literary & Cultural Contexts of Valerius’ Animals  3 Methodology 1 Empathy: Animal Experience in Simile  1 Bulls & Herds: Safety in Numbers  2 The Animal Mother: Gender & Generic Boundaries  3 Behaviour Patterns: Life Cycles & Phases  Conclusion 2 Relating: Human/Animal Interactions  1 Human Dominion  2 Human & Animal Trans-Species Collaboration  Conclusion 3 Identity: Human Appropriation of Animal Skins  1 Heroic Identification  2 (Re)emergence of the Animal  Conclusion 4 Presence: Animal Emissaries & Cult Companions  1 Sight: Jupiter’s Birds  2 Sound: The Animal Voice  Conclusion 5 Serpentine: Meditation on the Monstrous  1 Snaky Monsters & the New World Order  2 Snakes on Cyzicus, Arg. 3.456–458  3 Medea & Her draco  Conclusion General Conclusion Appendix: Indices of Animal & Related References in Valerius Flaccus. Bibliography Index

Reviews

"""Although the book is not organized chronologically, all passages are remarkably well contextualized and introduced, making it easy for the reader to understand the issues at stake. On the whole the monograph is thoughtfully structured and delivers what the author promises in the introduction: an intertextual study of passages featuring interactions between men and animals in Valerius’ Argonautica, with a focus on emotions."" Melissande Tomcik in BMCR 2023.03.29"

Author Information

Anne Tuttle Mackay, Ph.D. (2019), University College London, currently cares for her three young sons while conducting research in Latin poetry. Her PhD dissertation focused on animal/human dynamics in Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. She has also published articles on animal focalization in Valerius Flaccus in Classical Literature and Posthumanism (Bloomsbury, 2020), and on prophecy in Statius’ Thebaid in Ritual and Religion in Flavian Epic (Oxford, 2013).

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