French Literature Reviews - 2026
W. Fitzgerald, E. Gowers, Ennius Perennis: The Annals and Beyond
Comparative and World Literature
William Fitzgerald, Emily Gowers, Ennius Perennis: The Annals and Beyond, Cambridge: Cambridge Philological Society, Cambridge Classical Journal, Supplementary Volume, 31. xiii, 172 pages.
- ISBN 9780906014301
- $90.00
Review by Sandro La Barbera (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa) in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009.04.19.
Publisher's overview:
Ennius Perennis: The Annals and Beyond is a collection of eight essays by an international group of scholars on different aspects of the poetry and legacy of Quintus Ennius (239-169BC). Ennius' epic poem the Annals and his many other works, including tragedies, satires and epigrams, survive only in mystifying fragments, but his influence on Latin poetry was enormous. He is now beginning to be appreciated, thanks both to excellent critical editions and to more enlightened literary and historical approaches, as a complex and varied poet and a fascinating representative of an era of intense cultural and political change. While they acknowledge the extent to which later authors are responsible for creating a misleading perception of Ennius as monolithic, jingoistic and clumsy, these essays also reflect on what can be said about the nature and aims of his work, given the limitations of our evidence. Subjects discussed include Cicero's "invention" of Ennius, the part played by the *cor* (heart) in unifying Ennius' literary project, the possibility of "further voices" and a role for women in Ennius, Virgil's fraught "father-son" relationship with his epic predecessor and Ennius' later reincarnation in the works of Horace and Petrarch. The collection is likely to appeal to all who are interested in Latin literature, literary history or reception studies.
William Fitzgerald, from October 1st 2007, will be Professor of Latin, King's College, London and is currently Lecturer in Classics, University of Cambridge and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. Emily Gowers is Lecturer in Classics, University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College.
Quintus Ennius occupies a foundational position in the history of Latin literature, serving as a vital bridge between archaic traditions and later poetic forms. His epic Annals, alongside his dramatic and satirical compositions, established patterns that shaped generations of subsequent writers. Because these works survive almost entirely in scattered fragments preserved by later commentators, studying them requires navigating complex problems of transmission, editorial reconstruction, and intertextual reception across centuries of classical and post-classical scholarship.
Readers interested in Latin literature, literary history or reception studies may find it relevant. William Fitzgerald and Emily Gowers edited the volume Ennius Perennis: The Annals and Beyond, which collects essays by an international group of scholars on different aspects of the poetry and legacy of Quintus Ennius, who lived from 239 to 169 BC.