The Transvestite Achilles: Gender and Genre in Statius' Achilleid (review)

The artistry and importance of Statius' Silvae and Thebaid have been well demonstrated in recent years. But the Achilleid, an incomplete poem consisting of nearly 1,100 hexameters relating the attempts of Thetis to keep Achilles from going to Troy by disguising him as a girl and then hiding him on the island of Scyros, had not benefited from a book-length study in English. Heslin's book fills this gap admirably and is a welcome contribution to the renewed interest in Statius' poetry and its position in Roman literary history.

Many studies of Statius start by illustrating his importance for subsequent artists such as Dante and Chaucer, and Heslin's is no different, though he innovatively looks at interpretations of Statius' epic in early opera. He shows that composers used the theme of Achilles' cross-dressing to grapple with a question familiar to students of modern gender studies: is gender a masquerade, or is it essential? Despite the fact that operatic readings are hesitant to refer to the Achilleid, Heslin shows that they derive from Statius' own treatment of Achilles' time on Scyros. Myth, gender, and identity are thus central concerns of Statius' poem, and not just for opera.

Indeed, Heslin explicates that the Lacanian "unveiling of the phallus" is virtually anticipated by Statius' treatment of Achilles amidst the Bacchic rituals that take place on Scyros. Both Lacan and Statius, Heslin argues, suggest that the penis has a paradoxical role in that it embodies the biological, essentialist account of gender and identity and yet also illustrates the fragile nature and even potential detachment from that identity. Such a reading makes sense in the Achilleid, since Statius' Achilles breaks from the literary tradition and desires to stay with Deidameia and forsake the war cause even after he rapes her. Heslin's Achilleid thus explores large questions about the human condition, such as the role of love, family, culture, and power in shaping lives.

Heslin also considers Statius' interest in gender by looking at the poet's use of the literary tradition. He convincingly discusses Deidameia's acceptance of gender roles in light of Ovid's Heroides, and he also exposes the inherent problems of Thetis' language at the start of the poem by placing it within the framework of Vergilian epic and ancient rhetorical discussions. Thetis' request of Lycomedes to protect Achilles, for example, is particularly suggestive because the goddess seemingly violates norms of female diction. As Heslin himself notes, this point is slippery because, as a goddess, Thetis is more powerful than even the king Lycomedes; yet the point that Statius fashions the goddess' speech in light of Roman attitudes towards proper speech powerfully illustrates the poet's interest in the nexus between speech and gender.

Those interested in ancient epic in general will also benefit from Heslin's study. He demonstrates, for example, that the songs that Statius' Achilles sings on the one hand allude to the famous scene in Iliad 9, in which the hero celebrates the deeds of men, but on the other reflect an "Alexandrian" take on glory and warfare. The Homeric poems thus maintain their central place in literary history, but their authority is filtered through a broader prism. It is the poems of Vergil and Ovid, however, that are Statius' dominant intertexts. Heslin argues that Thetis' request for a storm, for example, fails in part because she misjudges the Vergilian paradigm and acts like Venus instead of Juno, and the influence owed to Ovidian representations of gender and identity appears throughout the work. Heslin's analysis convincingly shows that Statius skillfully employs the literary past to revisit familiar questions and to offer new insights. In the process, Heslin reveals a coherently intriguing and interesting Achilleid.