Madness Unchained: A Reading of Virgil's AeneidMadness Unchained is a comprehensive introduction to and study of Virgil's Aeneid. The book moves through Virgil's epic scene by scene and offers a detailed explication of not only all the major (and many minor) difficulties of interpretation, but also provides a cohesive argument that explores Virgil's point in writing this epic of Roman mythology and Augustan propaganda: the role of fury or madness in Rome's national identity. There have been other books that have attempted to present a complete guide to the Aeneid, but this is the first to address every episode in the poem, omitting nothing, and aiming itself at an audience that ranges from the Advanced Placement Virgil student in secondary school to the professional Virgilian and everyone in-between, both Latinists and the Latin-less. Individual chapters correspond to the books of the poem; unlike some volumes that prejudice the reader's interpretation of the work by rearranging the order of episodes in order to influence their impact on the audience, this book moves in the order Virgil intended, and also gives rather fuller exposition to the second half of the poem, Virgil's self-proclaimed "greater work" (maius opus). The notes to each chapter, as well as the "Selected Bibliography," are meant to provide a guide to the dense forest that is Virgilian scholarship. The notes aim at familiarizing the interested reader with the better and lesser known byways of Virgilian criticism, both English/American and continental, and at introducing the reader to some of the perennial problems of Virgilian literary criticism. It is hoped that Madness Unchained will become the standard introductory guide to the poem, useful in college and university courses in mythology, Roman literature, epic poetry, and Virgil (in Latin or translation), as well as offering a reappraisal of the poem to the many readers and scholars in other disciplines who know they should "like" the Aeneid, but who have always been perplexed by the seemingly stra |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 80
Page 142
... once been the strongest of heroes ( 5.389 heroum ... fortissime ) . Eryx may have died at Hercules ' hand , but Acestes can still call him a " god " ( 5.391 deus ) . Dares wants his prize at once ; Entellus has prizes , we learn ...
... once been the strongest of heroes ( 5.389 heroum ... fortissime ) . Eryx may have died at Hercules ' hand , but Acestes can still call him a " god " ( 5.391 deus ) . Dares wants his prize at once ; Entellus has prizes , we learn ...
Page 146
... once between the two rivals . Caesar had established games in honor of his divine pro- genitor Venus , and they were eventually moved to July , his own birth month , probably by Octavian in 44 B.C. , the first summer after Caesar's ...
... once between the two rivals . Caesar had established games in honor of his divine pro- genitor Venus , and they were eventually moved to July , his own birth month , probably by Octavian in 44 B.C. , the first summer after Caesar's ...
Page 381
... once again to attack the Latin capital . The idea is born out of frustration ; the slaughter is equal , and Juturna is driving Turnus ' chariot fast enough and far enough away to keep her brother from Aeneas ' spear . Venus may be ...
... once again to attack the Latin capital . The idea is born out of frustration ; the slaughter is equal , and Juturna is driving Turnus ' chariot fast enough and far enough away to keep her brother from Aeneas ' spear . Venus may be ...
Contents
Arms and the Man | 1 |
All Fell Silent | 37 |
After It Seemed Best | 75 |
Copyright | |
12 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Acestes Achilles Actium Aeneas Aeneid Allecto Anchises Apollo appearance Arcadian arma arms Arruns Ascanius Augustan Augustus battle beginning Book 11 Book 9 Camilla Carthage Carthaginians cavalry Chloreus Classical combat commentary Creusa dead death depiction describes Diana Dido Dido's Diomedes divine Drances end of Book epic episode Etruscan Evander Evander's evoke fate father fight final further future goddess gods Greek Harpalyce Hector Helenus hero Homer horse hunt Iliad immortals Italian Italy Juno Juno's Jupiter Jupiter's Juturna killed Latin Latium Lausus Lavinia Lucretius madness Marcellus mention Mezentius mother narrative neas Nisus and Euryalus notes Odysseus once Oxford Palinurus Pallas passage peace Penthesilea poem poem's poet Priam prophecy rage rites Roman Rome Rome's Rutulians scene Servius shield ships Sibyl Sicily simile slaughter storm story temple theme tion tradition Trojans Troy Turnus underworld Venus Vergilius victory Virgil Virgil's Aeneid Virgilian Volscian words wounded young