Juno's Aeneid by Joseph Farrell

Juno's Aeneid by Joseph Farrell

A major new interpretation of Vergil's epic poem as a struggle between two incompatible versions of the Homeric hero This compelling book offers an entirely new way of understanding the Aeneid. Many scholars regard Vergil's poem as an attempt to combine Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey into a single epic. Joseph Farrell challenges this view, revealing how the Aeneid stages an epic contest to determine which kind of story it will tell—and what kind of hero Aeneas will be. Farrell shows how this contest is provoked by the transgressive goddess Juno, who challenges Vergil for the soul of his hero and poem. Her goal is to transform the poem into an Iliad of continuous Trojan persecution instead of an Odyssey of successful homecoming. Farrell discusses how ancient critics considered the flexible Odysseus the model of a good leader but censured the hero of the Iliad, the intransigent Achilles, as a bad one. He describes how the battle over which kind of leader Aeneas will prove to be continues throughout the poem, and explores how this struggle reflects in very different ways on the ethical legitimacy of Rome’s emperor, Caesar Augustus. By reframing the Aeneid in this way, Farrell demonstrates how the purpose of the poem is to confront the reader with an urgent decision between incompatible possibilities and provoke uncertainty about whether the poem is a celebration of Augustus or a melancholy reflection on the discontents of a troubled age.

"A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year"
"Winner of the McKay Award, Vergilian Society"
"Thoroughly researched. . . Highly recommended." * Choice Reviews *
"A highly engaging, well-written, and thought-provoking take on the Aeneid, which will become an indispensable guide both to Virgil’s text and to the long and rich tradition of scholarship on the poem."---Anke Walter, Greece and Rome
"Juno’s Aeneid is a landmark work that should be essential reading on Vergil’s relation to Homer.—Tedd A. Wimperis, Classical Journal"

Joseph Farrell is the M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Professor in the Humanities and professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His many books include Ennius' "Annals": Poetry and History and A Companion to Vergil’s "Aeneid" and Its Tradition.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780691221250
ISBN 10	0691221251
Title	Juno's Aeneid
Author	Joseph Farrell
Series	Martin Classical Lectures
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Princeton University Press
Year published	2023-12-05
Number of pages	384
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable