Catullus' Bedspread: The Life of Rome's Most Erotic Poet – A Vivid Biography of Obscene Poetry, Caesar-Era Politics, and the Clodia Affair - Softcover

Dunn, Daisy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062317032 ISBN 13: 9780062317032

Publisher: Perennial, 2018

Synopsis

A vivid narrative that recreates the life of Gaius Valerius Catullus, Rome’s first modern” poet, and follows a young man’s journey through a world filled with all the indulgences and sexual excesses of the time, from doomed love affairs to shrewd political maneuvering and backstabbing—an accessible, appealing look at one of history’s greatest poets.

Born to one of Verona’s leading families, Catullus spent most of his young adulthood in Rome, mingling with the likes of Caesar and Cicero and chronicling his life through his poetry. Famed for his lyrical and subversive voice, his poems about his friends were jocular, often obscenely funny, while those who crossed him found themselves skewered in raunchy verse, sudden objects of hilarity and ridicule. These bawdy poems were disseminated widely throughout Rome. Many of his poems recall his secret longstanding affair with the seductive older Clodia.

While Catullus and Clodia made love in the shadows, the whole of Italy was quaking as Caesar, Pompey and Crassus forged a doomed alliance for power. During these tumultuous years, Catullus increasingly turned to darker subject matter, and he finally composed his greatest work of all—a poem about the decoration on a bedspread—which forms the heart of this biography, a work of beauty that will achieve immortality and make Catullus a legend.

Catullus’ Bedspread includes an 8-page color insert. 

About this title

About the Author

Daisy Dunn studied classics at the University of Oxford, earned a master’s degree in art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art, and completed a doctorate in classics and art history at University College London. She writes for the Daily Telegraph, Newsweek, The Spectator, the Times Literary Supplement, and History Today. She lives in London, England.

From the Back Cover

Born to one of Verona’s leading families, Catullus spent most of his young adulthood in Rome, mingling with the likes of Caesar and Cicero, and chronicling his life through poetry. Famed for having a lyrical and subversive voice, his poems about friends were jocular and often obscenely funny; those who crossed him found themselves skewered in raunchy verse, sudden objects of hilarity and ridicule.

These bawdy poems were disseminated widely throughout Rome. Many of his poems recall his secret affair with the seductive Clodia, an older woman who would eventually be plunged into scandal following the suspicious death of her aristocratic husband.

While Catullus and Clodia made love in the shadows, the whole of Italy was quaking as Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus forged a doomed alliance for power. During these tumultuous years, Catullus turned to darker subject matter, finally composing his greatest work of all: the “bedspread poem,” which set themes of love and war against the backdrop of the myth of the Ages, which would achieve immortality and make Catullus a legend.

Edition details

• Publisher: Perennial
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062317032
• ISBN 13: 9780062317032
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336