Catullus (Phoenix Supplementary Volumes) [Hardcover]

D.F.S. Thomson (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0802006760 | ISBN-13: 978-0802006769 | Publication Date: February 19, 1997 | Edition: Revised

This work contains a major revision of Douglas Thomson's Catullus: A Critical Edition (1978), with the addition of a full commentary and a wholly new introduction. For the introduction and for each of the poems there is an extensive and current bibliography.

In the introduction, apart from sections on the life of Catullus, on the arrangement of the poems, and on their literary background, there is a lengthy discussion of the history of the text, as well as a review of the progress of Catullan studies from the editio princeps to the present day.

There are about seventy changes from the previous edition in the text of the poems. The critical apparatus has also been extensively revised. In addition, the Table of Manuscripts, which has come to be regarded as standard, has been updated without alteration to the numbering sequence.

Though this is not primarily intended as a 'school edition,' the commentary includes, in addition to critical judgments, translations and interpretations of words and phrases that may help to illuminate readings in the text.

Catullus offers readers a new text of the poems, with a commentary, a codicology of the manuscript tradition, and a thorough review of Catullus scholarship.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Thomson is a most reliable and sympathetic guide to the poet. In addition to issues of text, he is especially concerned with matters of language and structure ... Here a well-known poem appears in a new light, and this is characteristic of the very considerable achievement of this edition. Thomson has made a significant contribution to the study of Latin poetry by producing a freshly considered and sharply illuminated text of Catallus that is founded upon the sound practice of philology.'

(Christopher G. Brown University of Toronto Quarterly )

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 578 pages
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division; Revised edition (February 19, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802006760
• ISBN-13: 978-0802006769
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,434,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Major new edition of Catullus should become standard, January 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Catullus (Phoenix Supplementary Volumes) (Hardcover)

Thomson's edition of Catullus finally weds a commentary to his twenty-odd year old critical text. For the scholar of neoteric poetry, Thomson's book is a must; undergraduates will find it too vast and too unconcerned with elementary matters (also with literary matters) but very helpful for bibliography on each poem (a role Quinn's text was growing a bit long in the tooth for). Graduate students are compelled to use this as their standard text. Thomson is at his best when unraveling the often diffuse manuscript tradition of this often-read, little-understood poet. For classicists with only a passing interest in Catullus and his work, Fordyce (supplemented by Quinn for the "obscene" poems) remains more than usable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ancients In a Translation That is Alive Today, May 3, 2010

By 

S. H. Wells (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catullus, Tibullus, Pervigilium Veneris (Loeb Classical Library No. 6) (Hardcover)

The Loeb Classical Library collects three poets of love together in one volume. First, Catullus is probably the most often studied poet of the group. The reading the poems and glancing across the page at the Latin original gives the reader a much stronger sense for how carefully crafted Catullus's verse is. The Loeb editon has been in circulation for about 90 years; however, it has recently been revised and reissued. Since Catullus was a little racy for the early 20th Century, many of his poems were translated into a very stilted form (or not translated at all). The new edition from Loeb corrects this and takes into account the 100 years of classical scholarship to produce a very authoratative and readable edition.

Second, Tibullus presents an interesting case, because few if any of his poems can directly be attributed to him. This in and of itself may not merit much attention -- particularly after reading the textual introduction which described just how torured a path classical texts have walked in coming down to us today. The poems about Sulpicia are the real interest here in that they may be written by her.

Finally, Tiberianus's Pervigilium Veneris attracts attention because it suggests the move away from classical poetry to Medieval forms.

The Loeb edition is well crafted with sewn binding and acid-free paper. These poets have survived 2000 years, and the Loeb edition is sure to be valued for generations.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Catullus and Tibullus: Exemplars of Roman Love Poetry, January 14, 2005

By 

Johannes Platonicus (South Bend, Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Catullus, Tibullus, Pervigilium Veneris (Loeb Classical Library No. 6) (Hardcover)

Catullus and Tibullus relatively belong to the same epoch in the history of Latin Poetry; and they also derive their inspiration through the same source--from Erato the Muse of Love Poetry. What one will encounter, then, while reading their works, is what may be perhaps the finest manifestation of Roman Love Poetry that has been passed over to us through the ages. With the exception of Propertius or Ovid, Catullus and Tibullus have no rival when it comes to the art of love poetry; and one may argue that the former poets only surpass the later in their bulk of extant poems and in their depth of subject-matter. Also included in this volume, is the Vigil of Venus, a warm and colorful poem attributed to a certain Tiberianus, who belongs to much later time, likely during the reign of the Antonines. As the introduction points out, the Vigil of Venus contains the first piece of Romanticism to be found in Western Poetry. It is a poem of exceptional merit, and it is not unworthy of the majesty of Catullus and Tibullus. Taken as a whole, students of Latin Literature, and poets of our day, have much to learn and enjoy by reading these noble classics.