Theocritus biography of rory

391 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS Rome). This topic-based approach does retrace some of the issues introduced in the previous chapters; however, this overlap is not a weakness, but a strength. The sub-sections of chapter four that overlap with previous chapters complement them, rather than merely repeating the discussion. For example, the most obvious overlap is between 2.3 (Literature as Artefact) and 4.2 (Book Culture and Performance). Both address the issue of the bookroll from different perspectives: 4.2, which surveys the evidence for poetry books in the epigram collections, Callimachus, and Theocritus, is apdy placed after the discussion of the poetry in Chapter Three. Inevitably, Gutzwiller's own research focus does peek through the generally objective presentation of the material. Certainly, the attention given to female poets and hellenistic queens, the prominence of epigrammatists, and the emphasis on the bookroll and book culture do reflect her special interests. Yet it is from these places where her scholarly favourites have influenced the selection of texts or the direction of the discussion that the book derives its freshness and rises above the o