Luke Roman is currently Associate Professor of Classics at Memorial University. His main area of research is Latin literature, and topics of interest include poetry in first-person genres, literary autonomy, literary representations of the city of Rome, the materiality of books and writing, Roman concepts of literature and literariness, and post-classical reception of Roman literature.

"[Roman's] is a stimulating book whose close readings furnish readers of Latin poetry with a fresh perspective on an enduring problem in interpreting its forms and functions. It should attract a wide and appreciative audience and remain a permanent contribution to debates about how and why these poets wrote as they wrote." --W. R. Johnson, Classical Philology

"Roman's approach to this vast, complex, and challenging poetic corpus is very appealing. It effectively guides the reader through well-known texts and much debated issues, offering a different perspective. It is grounded on an extensive and solid acquaintance with the texts discussed and results from mature and extended reflection on the concept at stake, which is neither easy to grasp nor simple to expose. This book, a major enterprise, is surely a most solid contribution to the study of first-person Roman poetry." --Ana Lóio, Evphrosyne: Revista de Filologia C lássic

"[A] remarkably stimulating reassessment of poetic self-presentation in Rome." --J. Mira Seo, Classical World

"[A] major achievement, which no student or scholar of Latin literature of virtually any period can afford to ignore." --Francesca Martelli, Journal of Roman Studies