Dr Maxine Lewis (Auckland/Oxford) - "The production of space, time, and spacetime in Catullus’ poem 68"

Classics and Ancient History Research Seminar. The spatial poetics of Catullus’ poem 68 are notoriously complex, from the bizarre image of the Arcadian sinkhole carved by Hercules to the multitude of geographical similes that Catullus uses to explain his emotional landscape. Further complicating matters, in c.68 Catullus portrays time (inherently linked to space) in ways that defy the natural laws. In this talk I examine the spatial and temporal poetics of poem 68, testing whether insights from human geography and philosophy can help us to make sense of Catullus’ unique production of space in this unusual piece of literature.