Senecan Tragedy and the Reception of Augustan Poetry
Christopher V. Trinacty
Reviews and Awards
"the fact remains that [Trinacty's] intertextual approach has yielded a book of great value to specialists in the fields of both Augustan poetry and Senecan tragedy." -- Gareth Williams , Language and Literature
"In crisp, clear prose, Trinacty mounts a reading of the texts of Seneca's dramatic poems as full participants in the intertextual system of meanings and significances that scholars have discerned in Augustan poetry and its Hellenistic models. Thanks to his cogent arguments and sensitive readings, it will henceforth no longer be possible to characterize the allusive presences of Virgil, Horace, and Ovid in Seneca's poetry as mere reminiscences or symptoms of an impoverished belatedness. This is an impressive contribution, and a most welcome one, to the study of a Roman author whose seriousness as a poet as well as a philosopher is once again fully visible for the first time in several centuries." -- David Wray, University of Chicago
"Trinacty goes far beyond spotting echoes of Augustan poetry in Seneca's plays: he shows Seneca engaged in a two-way exchange with the Augustan poets, rereading and reshaping the earlier tradition to define his own independent project responsive to its own cultural and critical milieu. The reader will find here a fresh perspective on Senecan tragedy and its meaning for its audiences, and on Augustan poetry as it was received in the generations after Augustus." --James Ker, University of Pennsylvania
"Trinacty has a keen ear for verbal allusion, and his close readings are detailed and persuasive." -- The Classical Journal