Part II Petronius and Others

The True Nature of the Satyricon?

Authors

  • Andrew Laird

Abstract

This paper considers the Satyrica in relation to the developing history of Greek prose fiction, highlighting some problems presented by a panoramic view of Greco-Roman literary history for interpretation of this work. The aim of this discussion is not to argue firmly for a later period of composition for the Satyrica, but to highlight the fact that its date has not yet been prop­erly settled. This awkward question cannot but bear on the way in which the work is viewed in relation to a constellation of potential Greek influences and sources. 

Andrew Laird is Reader in Classical Literature in Warwick University. He has published widely on Latin prose fiction and is co-editor of A Companion to the Prologue of Apuleius' Metamorphoses (OUP 2001). He is author of Powers of Expression, Expressions of Power (OUP 1999) and The Epic of America (Duckworth 2006).

Published

2007-06-01

Issue

Section

Part II Petronius and Others