Memory in Vergil's Aeneid
Author | : Aaron M. Seider |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 241 |
Release | : 2013-09-12 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781107292529 |
ISBN-13 | : 1107292522 |
Rating | : 4/5 (29 Downloads) |
Download or read book Memory in Vergil's Aeneid written by Aaron M. Seider and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-12 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the path from Troy's destruction to Rome's foundation, the Aeneid explores the transition between past and future. As the Trojans struggle to found a new city and the narrator sings of his audience's often-painful history, memory becomes intertwined with a crucial leitmotif: the challenge of being part of a group that survives violence and destruction only to face the daunting task of remembering what was lost. This book offers a new reading of the Aeneid that engages with critical work on memory and questions the prevailing view that Aeneas must forget his disastrous history in order to escape from a cycle of loss. Considering crucial scenes such as Aeneas' reconstruction of Celaeno's prophecy and his slaying of Turnus, this book demonstrates that memory in the Aeneid is a reconstructive and dynamic process, one that offers a social and narrative mechanism for integrating a traumatic past with an uncertain future.