Writing materials : things in the literature of Flavian rome

[摘要] This dissertation analyses the representation of inanimate objects in the literature of the Flavian period, specifically in two neglected books of epigrams, Martial s Xenia and Apophoreta. Using theoretical approaches drawn from 'Thing Theory' and Material Culture Studies, these poems are read as indicators of contemporary thinking about the consumption of objects at Rome.; Chapter One outlines the unusually active literary attention given to objects in the late first century CE, a discourse that is most visible in Pliny the Elder's Natural History. This chapter argues that the Natural History rearranges the Roman universe according to its objects both thematically and through its encyclopedic structure. Martial's Xenia and Apophoreta echo and parody this encyclopedic form. These two texts, one serious and one comic, share the same Flavian desire tocatalogue and consume the objects of the Roman Empire.; Chapter Two traces the development of the 'inscriptive mode' in Greek and Roman genre of epigram, that is, poetry that is conscious of the material object upon which it is written, and demonstrates how Martial's epigrams are influenced by both Greek and Roman models, but ultimately show a preference for writing on and about objects in the style of archaic Greek anathematic inscriptions.; Chapter Three analyses the economic aspects of the descriptions of objects in the Xenia and Apophoreta and shows that the poems reflect the intersection of three types of exchange present in the Flavian economy: reciprocity, redistribution and market exchange. Using Appadurai's theory of the social life of things, this chapter also shows how Martial plays with the idea of the value of things: his animated poetic objects exist at various stages along a biographical trajectory, each of which corresponds to a different economic status and a different kind of valuation. Martial's play with value extends to the self-conscious materialization and commoditization of his own poetry.; Chapter Four connects the poetic representation of everyday objects with the xenia or still life motif present in Romano-Campanian wall-paintings. Drawing on parallels to Dutch still–life painting, this chapter explores the aestheticization of everyday and humble objects in both poetry and art as a display of social power.

[发布机构] University of Southern California . Libraries