Full citation:Reed, Jay. 2014. “The Pastoral Lament in Ancient Greek and Latin” in The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature ed. E.L. McCallum & Mikko Tuhkanen. Cambridge University Press, New York. ISBN 978-1-107-03521-8
A collection of articles meant as a critical reference work on literature across time and space that might be considered “gay and lesbian literature.” Only articles with lesbian-relevant content will be blogged in detail.
Chapter 3 - The Pastoral Lament in Ancient Greek and Latin
* * *
The classical corpus of “pastoral lament” is small (two Greek, two Latin) and the genre doesn’t really come into being until the later 15th century, at which point the genre has shifted from its classical origins. This “lament for a lost companion” in its 15th century form primarily mourns female figures, and early works lack a clear relationship of the poetic voice and its subject. The poems are not clearly personal reactions. As the article moves on to the later “pastoral lament” genre, it focuses on the use of the medium to express male homoerotics, and thus moves out of scope for this blog.
Add new comment