The Epic of America by Andrew Laird
A lively introduction to the rich and complex tradition of Latin literature from colonial Spanish America, and to its best known author, the poet Rafael Landivar. Rafael Landivar is the best known of all the poets from the Americas to write in Latin. In the 15 books of his Rusticatio Mexicana (1782), he described - in vivid epic verse - the lakes, volcanoes, and wildlife of Mexico and his native Guatemala, as well as the livelihoods and recreations of the people of the region. This panorama of nature, culture and production in colonial New Spain took classical didactic poetry into a new world of political conflict. But Landivar also writes with a strongly personal voice: elegiac and pastoral modes convey the pathos of displacement and the poet's overwhelming nostalgia for his American homeland. Andrew Laird's introduction provides information about Landivar's life and exile to Italy, explains his diverse intellectual heritage, and collects his shorter works (translated into English here for the first time). A 1948 text of the Rusticatio Mexicana, with a translation by Graydon W. Regenos, is included in this volume. This accessible and stimulating account of 'the American Virgil' hi
"'The Rusticatio Mexicana is a masterpiece.. the last and worthiest descendant of Virgil's Georgics.' Josef Ijsewijn, Companion to Neo-Latin Studies"
Andrew Laird is Reader in Classical Literature at Warwick University, and the author of Powers of Expression, Expressions of Power (1999) and A Companion to the Prologue of Apuleius' Metamorphoses (edited with Ahuvia Kahane) (2001).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780715632819 |
| ISBN 10 | 0715632817 |
| Title | The Epic of America |
| Author | Andrew Laird |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2006-07-28 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |