Joseph B. Solodow
Lecturer, Department of Classics
In 1980–81 he held a Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Since becoming associated with the Yale Department of Classics in 1985, he has given a number of courses, such as the history of Latin literature, Virgil, Ovid, elegiac poetry, images of early Rome in Latin literature, and Latin prose composition.
His research interests lie in Latin literature and philology and in ancient historiography — more particularly in Catullus, the Augustan poets and Livy, Latin prose style, and the history of the language, all the way to its Romance descendants. He considers his forte to be the use of philology as a tool of literary criticism. His teaching, which ranges more widely, includes western literature read in translation.
His major publications are The Latin Particle Quidem and The World of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Cato the Elder, Catullus, the Eclogues, the Ars Amatoria, Livy, and Castiglione have figured as the subjects of articles. The Modern Language Association awarded the Scaglione Translation Prize to his rendering of G. B. Conte's history of Latin literature into English. His latest book, Latin Alive: The Survival of Latin in English and the Romance Languages was published in 2010. At the moment he is preparing a stylistic historiographical commentary on Livy XXI.
featured Courses This Year
Latin 412
Roman Myth and Pastoral
Fall, 2012, MW 9-10:15
A perspective on the last years of the Roman Republic, with emphasis on literary responses rather than the historical events themselves. A "bridge" course designed both to allow incoming students with substantial preparation in Latin to fulfill their language requirement (L5) and to sharpen the skills and enhance the knowledge needed in the more advanced Latin courses.
A combination of prose (selections from Book I of Livy's history) and poetry (most of Virgil's Eclogues). Attention divided between careful reading of the Latin and, with the aid of scholarly articles and chapters, interpretation of the literary works, which are set against the backgrounds not only of contemporary history and politics but also of literary tradition.
