SenecaJohn G. Fitch Seneca was a man of many facets: statesman, dramatist, philosopher, prose stylist. His life was marked by extremes of fortune - extremes that are reflected in much of his writing, and in the vicissitudes of his reputation in later centuries. This volume brings together some outstanding essays written about him over the past four decades, and illustrates the diversity of approaches by which modern critics have attempted to understand this multifaceted figure. Just as Seneca's writings often reflect his times, so current critical approaches often reflect issues in contemporary thought and society. Several of the essays have been revised by their authors for this volume, and two of them are translated for the first time. A new introduction places the articles within the context of recent academic thought and criticism. All Latin has been translated. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 Imago Vitae Suae | 23 |
A Revaluation | 59 |
3 Selfscrutiny and Selftransformation in Senecas Letters | 84 |
The Example of Praemeditatio | 102 |
5 The Will in Seneca the Younger | 114 |
6 Boundary Violation and the Landscape of the Self in Senecan Tragedy | 136 |
7 Construction of the Self in Senecan Drama | 157 |
11 Gender and Power in Senecas Thyestes | 244 |
12 The Implied Reader and the Political Argument in Senecas Apocolocyntosis and De Clementia | 264 |
13 Roman Historical Exempla in Seneca | 299 |
Gloria in the Thought of Seneca the Philosopher | 316 |
15 Seneca and Slavery | 335 |
16 The Dating of Senecas Tragedies with Special Reference to Thyestes | 348 |
17 Virgils Dido and Senecas Tragic Heroines | 372 |
Ideology and Meaning | 386 |
Back on Stage? | 181 |
The Production of Troas as a Philological Experiment | 195 |
The Drama in the Word | 221 |
Acknowledgement | 419 |
| 421 | |
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Common terms and phrases
adiaphora Agamemnon Agrippina anger Apocolocyntosis Atreus audience Augustus Burrus Caspian gates chorus Cicero claritas Claudius Clementia concern context conXict crime death desire deWned deWnition dialogue discussion diVerent diYculty emperor Epicurus epistles Euripides eVect evil example exempla exemplum exile father fear glory Greek GriYn Hercules Hippolytus historical human imperial indiVerent inXuence king Laius literary Lucilius Medea metaphor mind moral murder nature Nero Nero’s Octavia Oedipus one’s Ovid Ovid’s passage passion performance person Phaedra philosophical play Pohlenz political praemeditatio quae quam quid quod Racine’s reader Renaissance revenge reXect rhetorical role Roman Rome scene seems senate Seneca Seneca’s Letters Senecan drama Senecan tragedy sense signiWcance slave slavery soul speciWc speech stage Stoic Stoicism style suggests suVering Tacitus Tereus theatre Theseus Thyestes tibi traditional tragic Translated Troades Virgil virtue Wgures Wnal words writing Wrst Zwierlein