The Crisis of Masculinity in the Age of Augustus

by: Racette-Campbell, M.

Price: 34,00 EURO

1 copy in stock

The Crisis of Masculinity in the Age of Augustus
By Melanie Racette-Campbell

Description
The political rupture caused by the ascension of Augustus Caesar in ancient Rome, which ended the centuries-old Republic, had drastic consequences for the performance and understanding of masculinity in a markedly androcentric society. Previously, masculinity was established and maintained through the frame of competition, in both public and private spheres—but the total accumulation of power by one man foreclosed most avenues of, and even appreciation for, competition. Melanie Racette-Campbell examines how Rome?s elite men navigated this liminal moment between Republic and Empire and shows that the process was neither linear nor uniform.

Careful reading of contemporary texts reveals a decades-long process as tumultuous and unsteady as the political events they echoed, one in which multiple and competing strategies for reconceiving the nature of masculinity were tested, employed, discarded, and adopted in a complex public-private discourse. The eventual reconstitution of a definition of Roman manhood was not easily agreed upon. Masculinity in both the Republic and the Empire are well-studied subjects, but by shining a light on the precise moment of transition Racette-Campbell unveils the complexity, contours, and nuances of the Augustan crisis of masculinity.

Reviews
“A welcome addition to our developing awareness of how masculinity was constructed, challenged, reconsidered, and performed by the literary elite in the Late Republic and early Principate. . . . A study that is both expansive and tightly controlled, with fresh readings of early imperial poetry that avoid claiming too much. . . . Racette-Campbell?s translations and assessments feel innovative and germane.”

— Bryn Mawr Classical Review
“Melanie Racette-Campbell provides deft analysis and brilliant close readings about how the Augustan poets mobilized their understanding of Roman masculinity in response to life in the new regime. Highly recommended for anyone interested in ancient Roman sexuality and gender or the intersection of political history and gendered norms.”

— Charles Goldberg, Bethel University
“Roman masculinity studies comes of age in this wide-ranging exploration of the ?poetics of manhood? in Latin literature, from Cicero and Catullus at the end of the Republic to the great writers of the Augustan age (both prose and verse), including the emperor himself and ?his? poets.”

— Alison Keith, University of Toronto
“A clear, readable book on an expansive topic that combines tightly argued, insightful close readings with bigger-picture analysis.”

— The Classical Review

Table of Contents
Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Augustus and the End of Republican Masculinity
Chapter 1: Catullus and Cicero: Word Play in the Ruins
Chapter 2: Virtus under the Principate
Chapter 3: Resistance through Authority
Chapter 4: Disengagement through the Recusatio
Chapter 5: Speaking through the Gods
Conclusion: After Augustan Masculinity
Notes
References
Index Locorum
Index
Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: Augustus and the End of Republican Masculinity Chapter 1: Catullus and Cicero: Word Play in the Ruins Chapter 2: Virtus under the Principate Chapter 3: Resistance through Authority Chapter 4: Disengagement through the Recusatio Chapter 5: Speaking through the Gods Conclusion: After Augustan Masculinity Notes References Index Locorum Index

The Crisis of Masculinity in the Age of Augustus

by: Racette-Campbell, M.

• ISBN-13: 9780299343545 / 978-0-299-34354-5
• ISBN-03: 0299343545 / 0-299-34354-5
• The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 2023

Price: 34,00 EURO

1 copy in stock