By Ronnie Ancona

Description

The passion and immediacy of Catullus' lyrics can for readers obscure the complexity of his poems' moods and subjects. Informed by the latest in Catullan scholarship, Ronnie Ancona gives Catullus' poems their due. Writing Passion: A Catullus Reader presents the forty-two poems that are required reading for the 2005 AP Latin Literature Exam. The format includes line-by-line notes and vocabulary and a variety of enhancements, making it easily accessible to both teachers and students. A separate teacher's guide is also available.

Special Features

Ancona's pedagogical expertise and scholarly work on Catullus have produced an outstanding text that features:

• introduction to Catullus' life, historical/social and literary background, and the Catullan corpus
• Latin text of 42 poems excerpted from Catullus, ed/ D. F. S. Thomson (Univ. Toronto 1997). Includes Catullus 1-5, 7, 8, 10–14a. 22. 30, 31, 35, 36, 40, 43–46, 49–51, 60, 64 (lines 50–253), 65, 68–70, 72, 76, 77, 84–87, 96, 101, 109, 116
• bibliography
• a short, thought-provoking introduction to each poem
• line-by-line notes and vocabulary on same page as Latin text
• appendices: meters; metricals terms/tropes or figures of thought/rhetorical figures or figures of speech
• Latin text of poems without notes or vocabulary
• complete vocabulary

Please click 'Sample Pages,' to see Girl Reading at a Table, Pablo Picasso, 1934.

"2004 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Florene M. Schoenborn, in honor of William S. Lieberman, 1995 (1996.403.1) Photograph" 1996 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Thomson's Text in Writing Passion:
Click here to view the chart listing the places where Thomson's text, found in Writing Passion: A Catullus Reader, differs from Mynors' Oxford Classical Text, which appears on the Advanced Placement Examination. (.pdf file - 102Kb)

Are you teaching Catullus? Are you using the textbook Writing Passion A Catullus Reader? Or thinking about using the textbook Writing Passion? Visit the Writing Passion WIKI to post your ideas and see other teachers' ideas for using Writing Passion.

Comments and Reviews

THIS LATEST EDITION of that erstwhile school favourite Catullus offers a selection of 42 poems proscribed for the American Advanced Placement Latin Literature Examination. A reproduces Thomson's updated text of the poet that is to be found in his 1997 critical edition. A has prefaced her edition with a very short but genuinely useful introduction to Catullus' life, social background and literary corpus. She touches upon the majority of significant issues including Catullus' probable service under the pro-praetorship of Memmius in Bithynia, the turbulent period of Republican politics under which he wrote and the Hellenistic Greek aesthetic of learned Alexandrianism. A then provides a student-friendly bibliography with several interesting entries under `Listening Materials'. She also provides a separate short guide to further reading on each poem very much in the manner of Quinn's revised 1973 edition, though the choice of articles is heavily weighted in favour of American scholars with names such as Skinner, Forsyth and Putnam featuring often.

The texts themselves begin with a short synopsis of each poem, offering a fairly loose framework for critical interpretation by suggesting several possible methods of approach or lines of enquiry. The Latin text sits neatly at the top of the page and is followed by a running vocabulary as well as explanatory and grammatical notes all keyed to the text reproduced on the page. A clear, concise and useful appendix on the metres of the poems and a list of literary terms follows. The edition is completed by a full vocabulary list for all the poems covered.

This edition would certainly prove a useful tool for the accelerated reading of set texts with a bright GCSE group. AS audiences may also find some interesting material here, though they would still be advised to stick with Quinn or the aging Fordyce as their base. It is a pity that A does not cover the entire Catullan corpus and inevitably there will be times when the GCSE or AS syllabus does not overlap with her choice, but, as a helpful, supportive and neatly presented guide, I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to any school Classics department.

John Roberts
Uppingham School
JACT Book Review, Sept. 2005