Ambiguities of War: A Narratological Commentary on Silius Italicus' Battle of Ticinus (Sil. 4.1-479) /

: The book lays bare the narrative form of Silius' text. It focuses on the phenomenon of ambiguity due to the epic's constant oscillation between fact and fiction, highlighting Roman triumph in defeat and defeat through triumph.
This Narratological Commentary on Silius' Battle of Ticinus lays bare the narrative form of the text by addressing numerous narratological aspects, including plot-development, focalization, space, and intertextuality. The book also focuses on the phenomenon of ambiguity with its dynamic processes of (un-)strategic production, perception, and resolution. Ambiguity is a central feature of the Punica because of the epic's constant oscillation between fact and fiction: it treats the changing fortunes of war and the tension between Rome and Carthage, which Silius translates into a moment of poetical equilibrium by his paradoxical problematization of triumph in defeat and defeat through triumph.
: 1 online resource. : Includes bibliographical references and index. : 9789004522671
9789004522664