The Matter of the Page: Essays in Search of Ancient and Medieval Authors

174 Pages·2011·3.64 MB·English

by  Shane Butler

the matter of the page
Publication of this volume has been made possible, in part,
through the generous support and enduring vision of
warren g. moon.
b
essays in search of ancient
and medieval
authors
shane butler
the university of wisconsin press
The University of Wisconsin Press
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Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059
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Copyright © 2011 by Shane Butler
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,
or transmitted, in any format or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
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oftheUniversityofWisconsinPress,exceptinthecaseofbriefquotationsembeddedincritical
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1 3 5 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Butler, Shane, 1970–
The matter of the page : essays in search of ancient and
medieval authors / Shane Butler.
p. cm.—(Wisconsin studies in classics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-299-24824-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-299-24823-9 (e-book)
1. Classical literature—Criticism, Textual.
2. Literature, Medieval—Criticism, Textual.
3. Authorship.
I. Title. II. Series: Wisconsin studies in classics.
PA3521.B88 2011
880.091—dc22
2010011574
For
emma
and
leo

b
contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Presenting the Author 3
1 The Backward Glance 13
2 Myself Sick 28
3 Latin Decomposition 37
4 The Erasable Cicero 63
5 The Surface of the Page 75
6 The Folded Page 87
Notes 107
Bibliography 137
Index 147
Index Locorum 153
vii

b
acknowledgments
Versions or portions of this book’s individual chapters have been heard by the
following audiences, who are thanked collectively for their corrections and sug-
gestions: Seminar on the History of Material Texts, University of Pennsylvania
(introduction, chapters 1 and 6); Classics Colloquium, Bryn Mawr College
(chapter 3); Department of Classics, UCLA (chapter 3); Classics Colloquium,
ColumbiaUniversity(chapters3and6);“TechnologiesofWritingfromAntiq-
uity to Early Modern Europe,” Conference at the University of Pennsylvania,
March 28–9, 2003 (chapter 4); Third Penn-Leiden Colloquium on Ancient
Values,LeidenUniversity,June3–6,2004(chapter5);“InvisibleCities,”Con-
ference at Stanford University, February 11–12, 2005 (chapter 5); “Forms of
Address,” Annual Conference of the English Institute, Harvard University,
October 20–22, 2006 (chapter 1); special lecture series for the Opera Institute’s
production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, California State University, Long Beach,
March 10, 2008 (chapter 1). I would also like to thank, again collectively, my
wonderful colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, both inside
and outside Classics. Many libraries have contributed to the making of this
book, but I would like to extend special thanks to those of UCLA and of the
American Academy in Rome.
Of this book’s many single debts, the ones owed to the following require
named thanks here: David Blank, Carmela Vircillo Franklin, Joseph Farrell,
Sander Goldberg, Sean Keilen, Kathryn Morgan, Alex Purves, Peter Stally-
brass, Mario Telò, James Thacker, and Carolyn Williams. Very special thanks
to James I. Porter and to James Tatum for their tireless help and encourage-
ment, without which this book would never have been published. I cannot
ix