Freud's Rome: Psychoanalysis and Latin Poetry

162 Pages·2009·0.84 MB·English

by  Ellen Oliensis

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Freud’s Rome
ThisbookisameditationontheroleofpsychoanalysiswithinLatinliterary
studies. Neither a skeptic nor a true believer, Oliensis adopts a pragmatic
approach to her subject, emphasizing what psychoanalytic theory has to
contributetointerpretation.DrawingespeciallyonFreud’sworkondreams
andslips,shespotlightstextualphenomenathatcannotbesecurelyanchored
inanyintentionorpsychebutthatnevertheless,orforthatveryreason,seem
fraughtwithmeaning;the“textualunconscious”ishernamefortheindef-
initeplacefromwhichthesephenomenaerupt,orwhichtheyretroactively
constitute,asakindof“unconsciousness-effect.”Thediscussionisorganized
aroundthreekeytopicsinpsychoanalysis–mourning,motherhood,andthe
origins of sexualdifference – and takes the poetryof Catullus, Virgil,and
Ovid as its point of reference. A brief afterword considers Freud’s own
wittingandunwittingengagementwiththeideaofRome.
Ellen Oliensis isProfessorofClassicsattheUniversityofCalifornia,
Berkeley.SheistheauthorofHoraceandtheRhetoricofAuthority(1998)as
wellasassortedessaysonLatinliterature.

ROMAN LITERATURE
AND ITS CONTEXTS
Freud’s Rome
ROMAN LITERATURE
AND ITS CONTEXTS
Serieseditors
DenisFeeneyandStephenHinds
This series promotes approaches to Roman literature which are open to
dialoguewithcurrentworkinotherareasoftheclassics,andinthehuman-
ities at large. The pursuit of contacts with cognate fields such as social
history,anthropology,historyofthought,linguisticsandliterarytheoryis
inthebesttraditionsofclassicalscholarship:thestudyofRomanliterature,
nolessthanGreek,hasmuchtogainfromengagingwiththeseothercontexts
andintellectualtraditions.TheseriesoffersaforuminwhichreadersofLatin
texts can sharpen their readings by placing them in broader and better-
definedcontexts,andinwhichotherclassicistsandhumanistscanexplore
thegeneralorparticularimplicationsoftheirworkforreadersofLatintexts.
Thebooksallconstituteoriginalandinnovativeresearchandareenvisaged
assuggestiveessayswhoseaimistostimulatedebate.
Otherbooksintheseries
Richard Hunter, TheshadowofCallimachus:studiesinthereceptionof
HellenisticpoetryatRome
James J. O’Hara, InconsistencyinRomanepic:studiesinCatullus,Lucretius,
Vergil,OvidandLucan
Alain Gowing, Empireandmemory:therepresentationoftheRomanRepublic
inimperialculture
Joseph Farrell, LatinlanguageandLatinculture:fromancienttomoderntimes
A.M. Keith, EngenderingRome:womeninLatinepic
William Fitzgerald, SlaveryandtheRomanliteraryimagination
Stephen Hinds, Allusionandintertext:dynamicsofappropriationin
Romanpoetry
Denis Feeney, LiteratureandreligionatRome:cultures,contexts,andbeliefs
Catherine Edwards, WritingRome:textualapproachestothecity
Duncan F. Kennedy, Theartsoflove:fivestudiesinthediscourseofRoman
loveelegy
Charles Martindale, Redeemingthetext:Latinpoetryandthe
hermeneuticsofreception
Philip Hardie, TheepicsuccessorsofVirgil:astudyinthedynamics
ofatradition

Freud’s Rome
Psychoanalysis and Latin Poetry
Ellen Oliensis
ProfessorofClassics,
UniversityofCalifornia,
Berkeley
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521846615
© Ellen Oliensis 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-65823-5 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-84661-5 Hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-60910-4 Paperback
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