Abstract
Book review of Dynamics of marginality: liminal characters and marginal groups in Neronian and Flavian literature by Konstantinos Arampapaslis, Antony Augoustakis, Stephen Froedge, Clayton Schroer, Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes, 143, De Gruyter, 2023, ISBN 9783111061580.
The dynamics of marginality have emerged as an important concept in contemporary literary criticism. Broadly speaking, the concept has usually been applied to refer to inequality experienced by an individual or a group in a particular context at a given time in relation to a‘centre’ with a set of core elite ideological values, power structures, cultural conventions, and social norms. As it pertains to literature, the concept of marginality often refers to individuals or groups who are depicted as being separated from the hegemonic or elite classes due to their social status, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, geographical location, or any other aspect of their identity. Dynamics of Marginality is really the first book on marginality in classical texts, since the recently edited volume of Marco Formisano and Cristina S. Kraus titled Marginality, Canonicity, Passion (Oxford 2018) is more concerned with the concept as it pertains to the development of the classical canon and its reception, including the employment of ‘marginal’ texts by classicists as a possible means of renewing interest in the discipline along the lines of reception studies. But Dynamics of Marginality aims to explore the use of marginality per se in classical texts. According to the editors Konstantinos Arampapaslis, Antony Augoustakis, Stephen Froedge, and Clayton Schroer, the objective is to situate this concept within the Neronian and Flavian periods and within modern Latin literary criticism. The publisher’s blurb declares that the main focus of the collection of essays is on ‘marginal’ voices, that is, ‘underappreciated authors and critical voices’, with a view to understanding how such writers and voices are presented in relation to the themes of each work discussed. Although the chapters have not been formally arranged into sections, they may be categorized into four parts, as virtually suggested by the editors: the Introduction and Victoria Pagan’s discussion of marginalia; marginality as a theme associated with Roman country life; marginality in Petronius’ Satyricon; and the marginalization of figures in Silius Italicus’ Punica. While there are four editors of a book that contains only eight chapters (excluding the short co-authored Introduction), only one of which is actually written by an editor (Arampapaslis), this can be explained by the fact that three of the editors were students of the fourth editor. In this sense, the production of this volume represents an enormous compliment to Augoustakis, the senior editor, who inspired his students to produce this volume. As the four editors themselves suggest (p. 8), the innovative nature of Dynamics of Marginality and the sophisticated arguments of its individual contributions doubtless will serve as the inspiration for other volumes on marginality during other periods of Greek and Latin literature.