Iambic Ideas

Iambic Ideas, explores the concept of the 'iambic' as a genre. In a set of detailed studies, the contributors examine, across time, the idea of iambic through a wide variety of cultural settings—Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, and late antiquity. What emerges most clearly is that the 'iambic idea' is impossible to define in absolute terms: rather, the form of iambic keeps varying in response to a vast variety of historical contingencies. The variation is evident in such critical terms as the 'iambic tendency' in Sappho, the 'reusing of iambi' for Roman epodes, and even the instances of 'iambic absence' in comedy and other such related forms. In the end, what is most characteristic about the 'iambic' is its own inherent variability.

Iambic Ideas explores the concept of the _iambic_ as a genre. In a set of detailed studies, the contributors examine, across time, the idea of iambic through a wide variety of cultural settings—Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, and late antiquity. What emerges most clearly is that the _iambic idea_ is impossible to define in absolute terms: rather, the form of iambic keeps varying in response to a vast variety of historical contingencies. The variation is evident in such critical terms as the _iambic tendency_ in Sappho, the _reusing of iambi_ for Roman epodes, and even the instances of _iambic absence_ in comedy and other such related forms. In the end, what is most characteristic about the _iambic_ is its own inherent variability.

Alessandro Barchiesi is Professor of Latin Literature at the University of Verona, Italy. Antonio Aloni is Professor of Greek Literature at the University of Torino, Italy. Alberto Cavarzere is Professor of Latin Literature at the University of Trento, Italy.