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Nate's avatar

Very modern way of approaching a classical poet. Bakhtin talks extensively about the role of the material bodily lower stratum in comedic works from the classical to renaissance period. This type of marketplace poo-poo pee-pee humour was better understood by the ancients whereas today we relegate their content to the base, vile, and lacking in "art." Hipponax read through the eyes of Rabelais took on a substantially different narrative than someone who fails to understand the humour.

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Carlo Parcelli's avatar

Magus,

What a wonderful piece! I'm so honored to have been included. I'm rarely mentioned in critical work of this level. Usually the criticism is scribbled on tile.

I hope you are still on for Thursday's podcast. Let me know. Poetry and Politics Part II.

Canis Ictus

PS: I have Chris Mason's et al translation around here somewhere. It's extremely good and utile. But what always fascinated me was when faced with a living Hipponax in me, he and David chose to lead me on rather than give me a promised reading. They must have known as a living Hipponax it would only confirm that bitterness. I suppose it's safer to embrace the bones of Hipponax than the flesh of the Dog. Jack Foley, who knows my work better than anyone else, called Canis Ictus in Exslium a 'revenge epic' and he was not wrong.

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