Latin literature

Let us start with a wonderful book that shows us not only Plautine comedy, but also Republican literary culture in a new light: Emilia Barbiero's fascinating exploration of the role played by letters in Plautus’ comedies. In five chapters dedicated to Bacchides, Persa, Pseudolus, Curculio, and, finally, Epidicus and Trinummus, she develops a powerful argument for the intricate metatheatric implications of the writing, reading, forging, or not-opening of letters on the Plautine stage. Countering a scholarly trend that tends to emphasize the role of improvisation, collaboration, and preliterate forms of theatre in Plautus’ comedies, Barbiero shows that the use of letters in Plautus’ comedies – without exception employed for amorous affairs – rather points to a deep concern with writing as the basis for acting and that they can be understood as mirrors of the text within the text and as mise-en-abyme of the origins of Plautine comedy in a script.