Doctoral Degrees (Ancient Studies)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Ancient Studies) by Author "De Villiers, Annemarie"

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    Catullus decentred: the poetics of the periphery
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) De Villiers, Annemarie; Thom, Sjarlene; Thom, J. C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Catullus is, after Vergil and Horace, the most studied Latin poet. His poems portray a speaking subject whose intense experience of the people and circumstances in his world immediately draws in the reader by suggesting a believable personality experiencing universal emotions. Although the speaker in the poems has often been described as a marginalized figure in terms of his status as a provincial in Rome the problem of his decentredness has not been considered as a recurring motif in the Catullan oeuvre. This study investigates the depiction of the Catullan speaker as a peripheral figure throughout the corpus by analyzing 63 of the 113 poems. Five categories are identified which correspond to the speaker’s experience of being side-lined under different circumstances: the peripheral figure in Rome, the rejected lover, the misunderstood or undervalued friend, the ambiguous invective speaker, and the sympathizer with mythological outcasts. Selected poems are grouped together and analyzed in five chapters based on these categories. These five chapters are introduced by a chapter on a number of theories which may contribute to a better understanding of a peripheral literary personality. Chapter 1 discusses the theories of liminality, dialogism, symbolic space and narrative as means to a clearer formulation of the identity of a marginalized figure. In chapter 2 the Catullan speaker’s peripheral position in Rome is analyzed in terms of the notion of urbanitas, the sophisticated behaviour and aesthetic judgment associated with the city, as well as with reference to his brother’s death, the person who symbolizes his closest link to his rural hometown of Verona. Chapter 3 is concerned with the peripheral status of the Catullan speaker as lover in terms of his relationship with the notoriously disloyal Lesbia in particular, but also with reference to his infatuation with the young man Juventius who openly rejects him. In chapter 4 the Catullan speaker features as a misunderstood or undervalued friend. This chapter analyzes poems directed at friends whose lack of the reciprocal faithfulness implied by amicitia leaves the speaker with a profound sense of not-belonging. Chapter 5 focuses on the Catullan speaker’s use of invective to lash out at enemies or rivals in love. Despite the speaker’s apparent delight in harsh verbal abuse, his loud protestations mask a deep-seated vulnerability and a keen awareness of his own precarious position in the situation in hand. Finally chapter 6 looks at the mythological outcasts Attis and Ariadne as representatives of the only way of life available to those individuals who do not conform to society’s mould. From the perspective of someone who is neither an insider nor a complete outsider the Catullan speaker presents the reader with a unique perspective on Roman society both in terms of the public world of socio-politics as well as the private world of intimate relationships between individuals. At the same time the unique personality of a decentred speaker is revealed. This is the poetics of the periphery.