Configurations of Genre in Flavian Epic Poetry

The project Configurations of Genre in Flavian Epic Poetry investigates how Valerius Flaccus, Statius, and Silius Italicus, Roman epic poets active during the Flavian age (69-96 CE), respond to the three main stereotypes of the epic genre that emerge in early imperial literary criticism: (1) epics main (and almost exclusive) subject matter is wars and heroes, (2) epic habitually treats hackneyed, grandiose themes such as gigantomachy, (3) epic is strictly opposed to the language and themes of smaller genres such as elegy and pastoral. Obviously, such stereotypes do not reflect ancient literary practice, nor did they constrain what literary practitioners were able to do; yet they still provided meaningful points of reference both in the composition and in the reception of epic poetry. I propose that contemporary critics and audiences too may benefit from taking ancient stereotypes of epic as points of departure when setting out to explore the complex world of Flavian epic. Given the vast scope of the projects three major strands (and the size of the corpus under investigation), I do not aim for comprehensive treatment, but rather for a series of representative case studies, which will showcase productive approaches and may serve as stimulating models for further research into the configurations of genre in Flavian epic poetry.

The project "Configurations of Genre in Flavian Epic Poetry" investigated how the Roman epic poets Valerius Flaccus, Statius, and Silius Italicus, active during the Flavian period (69-96 CE), respond to the three main stereotypes of the epic genre that emerge in early imperial literary criticism: (1) epic's main (and almost exclusive) subject matter is wars and heroes, (2) epic habitually treats hackneyed, grandiose themes such as gigantomachy, (3) epic is strictly opposed to the language and themes of 'smaller' genres such as elegy and pastoral. Such stereotypes obviously do not reflect ancient literary practice, nor did they constrain what literary practitioners were able to do. Yet the project has found that they still provide meaningful points of reference both in the composition and in the reception of epic poetry. The central finding is that contemporary critics and audiences alike may benefit from taking ancient stereotypes of epic as points of departure when setting out to explore the complex world of Flavian epic. Given the vast scope of the project's three major strands (and the size of the corpus under investigation), the project has not aimed at a comprehensive treatment. It has rather sought to refine theoretical understandings of ancient genre and to produce a series of representative case studies that showcase productive approaches and may serve as stimulating models for further research into the configurations of genre in Flavian epic poetry.