This paper explores the ideological assumptions that often underlie imperial Roman literary representations of elite men’s voluntary solitude, examining the accounts of the villa-bound solitude of Pollius Felix (Stat. Silv. 2.2) and Pliny the Younger (Ep. 2.17). The paper argues that the voluntary solitude of elite Roman men in these literary portraits is based on profound privilege that is derived from their gender, and social and economic statuses.
This seminar will take place online.
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