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Preface and Acknowledgments
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
ix Silence in Catullus argues that the first-century BCE Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus shows a deep and varied interest in silence as it may play important roles in poetry and as it relates to human being-inlanguage more generally. In particular I argue that Catullus’s interest in silence is an intentional and significant aspect of his poetics: we may say that Catullus has a “poetics of silence.” This argument is intended to be of interest to scholars and advanced students of Catullus, of other Latin poets, and of ancient poetry more generally. Although certain parts of the argument are specialized or technical, I hope that this book will nonetheless also prove useful to undergraduate students of Latin, many of whom study Catullus at some point in their careers. Finally, I hope that the book will find readers among scholars, students, and others who are interested in silence as it figures in literature and other arts as well as in our lived experience. Silence in Catullus is one way of expressing my gratitude to the many professors, colleagues, students, and friends with whom I have had the pleasure of thinking about Catullus over the years. I owe my interest in Catullus most directly to Ernst Fredericksmeyer, under whom I first studied Latin at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the spring of 1996, and to David Wray, under whom I studied Latin poetry at the University of Chicago in the winter quarter of 1999. Their love of Latin poetry was infectious, and I hope that this book is felt to honor their inspirational teaching and scholarship. I began to draft chapters about silence in Catullus some ten years later, in the fall of 2009, while on a one-semester sabbatical from teaching at Bard College. At Bard I had the opportunity to teach Catullus, whether in the Latin or in translation, to more than one hundred students in nine courses over eight years; the Preface and Acknowledgments x Preface and Acknowledgments effect of that experience on this work is incalculable. The manuscript was accepted for publication by the University of Wisconsin Press in the late spring of 2012 and was submitted to the press in final form in latest summer of that year; the very last stages of work on the book were completed while I was a visiting assistant professor at Hollins University, and I am grateful for the support I received there. Friends and family with whom I spent nominal vacations at various points in the process deserve both thanks and, as fellow authors will understand, heartfelt apologies. Silence in Catullus would not have reached its present form as this book without the assistance and insights of all those people as well as others. The anonymous scholars who reviewed the manuscript for the press helped me to see many aspects of Catullus and Catullan scholarship more clearly. I was supported throughout by colleagues at Bard; among them, Carolyn Dewald deserves special thanks for valuable feedback on several drafts, and Brett M. Rogers should know that he is a gift as colleague and friend. Special thanks are also due those individuals at the press who helped to guide the project on its way from manuscript to book, including Adam Mehring, managing editor; Sheila McMahon, editor; William Aylward and Patricia A. Rosenmeyer, general editors of the press’s Classics series as well as faculty of the University of Wisconsin; Raphael Kadushin, senior acquisitions editor; and Matthew Cosby, acquisitions assistant. Other individuals and groups are thanked for particular assistance or insights in the notes. [34.228.213.183] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 08:10 GMT) Silence in Catullus ...