Ambiguities of War: A Narratological Commentary on Silius Italicus' Battle of Ticinus (Sil. 4.1-479)
Author | : Elisabeth Schedel |
Publisher | : Mnemosyne, Supplements |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2022 |
ISBN-10 | : 9004522662 |
ISBN-13 | : 9789004522664 |
Rating | : 4/5 (62 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: This Narratological Commentary on Silius' Battle of Ticinuslays bare the narrative form of the text by addressing numerous narratological aspects, including plot-development, focalization, space, and intertextuality. The book also focuses on the phenomenon of ambiguity with its dynamic processes of (un-)strategic production, perception, and resolution. Ambiguity is a central feature of the Punica because of the epic's constant oscillation between fact and fiction: it treats the changing fortunes of war and the tension between Rome and Carthage, which Silius translates into a moment of poetical equilibrium by his paradoxical problematization of triumph in defeat and defeat through triumph.