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Virgo to Virago: Medea in the Silver Age Unabridged edition
Author(s): Kirsty Corrigan (Author)
- Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
- Publication Date: August 7, 2013
- Edition: Unabridged edition
- Language: English
- Print length: 300 pages
- ISBN-10: 1443846554
- ISBN-13: 9781443846554
Book Description
The infamous and formidable mythological figure of Medea has deservedly held an enduring appeal throughout the ages. This has perhaps never been more true than in the Silver Age of Latin literature, when the taste for rhetorical excess and the macabre made the heroine, and especially her notorious acts of witchcraft and the slaughter of her own children in revenge for her husband’s infidelity, a particularly suitable and attractive topic for literary treatment. By examining the portrayal of this remarkable figure in the works of Ovid, Seneca and Valerius Flaccus, Virgo to Virago: Medea in the Silver Age offers a comprehensive study of the representation of the heroine, not only in this specific period, but in the entire Roman era, since these three authors provide the only substantial accounts of this figure to have survived in Classical Latin. Through close analysis of the texts, Virgo to Virago explores the characterisation of Medea, whose mythical life was inevitably overshadowed by her legendary behaviour, considering whether these accounts merely accord with the particular traits of the Silver Age, or whether this mighty female character has any claim to sympathy or admiration in these texts. The book simultaneously examines how the Latin authors compare with, and differ from, both one another and their extant Greek and Roman predecessors, concluding with a discussion of the significance of any comparisons to be drawn between these portrayals of the Roman Medea.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Kirsty Corrigan, in a book that began its incarnation as her Kent PhD thesis, examines the treatment of Medea in Ovid (the Heroides and Metamorphoses in particular), Seneca’s Medea and Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. The book fills a real gap in the scholarship and is easily accessible even for the non-specialist. Its greatest virtue is Corrigan’s careful and nuanced examination of the different portrayals of Medea… It could serve very well as the basis for an undergraduate or graduate course on Medea.” Dr Anke Walter University of Rostock Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 18.2.2016 “It is fair to remark that the book adds to the scholarship both of the Silver Age Latin literature, in general, and of the reception of Medea’s figure, in particular.” Rosanna Lauriola University of Idaho Digressus, 14 (2014)
About the Author
Kirsty Corrigan obtained her PhD in Classical & Archaeological Studies from the University of Kent in 2010. She has taught at Kent as an Associate Lecturer for several years, and also undertakes marking and moderating duties for national examination boards. Her entry on Roman Satire was recently published in the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Ancient History, and she is currently writing a biography of Marcus Junius Brutus.
