Product Information
This study focuses on ways in which Statius' epic Thebaid, a poem about the civil war between Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polynices, reflects the theme of internal discord in its narrative strategies. At the same time that Statius reworks the Homeric and Virgilian epic traditions, he engages with Hellenistic poetic ideals as exemplified by Callimachus and the Roman Callimachean poets, especially Ovid. The result is a tension between the impulse towards the generic expectations of warfare and the desire for delay and postponement of such conflict. Ultimately, Statius adheres to the mythic paradigm of the mutual fratricide, but he continues to employ competing strategies that call attention to the fictive nature of any project of closure and conciliation. In the process, the poem offers a new mode of epic closure that emphasises individual means of resolution.Product Identifiers
PublisherCambridge University Press
ISBN-139780521867412
eBay Product ID (ePID)90705404
Product Key Features
Publication Year2007
TopicLiterature
Book TitleStatius' Thebaid and the Poetics of Civil War
Number of Pages214 Pages
LanguageEnglish
AuthorCharles Mcnelis
Dimensions
Item Height229 mm
Item Weight490 g
Additional Product Features
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited Kingdom
Title_AuthorCharles Mcnelis