Author: POORTVLIET, H.M.,
Title: C. Valerius Flaccus Argonautica Book II. A commentary.
Description: VU University Press, Amsterdam, 1991. (II),349p. Theses. Paperback. Edges a bit rust stained. Corners cover slightly dog's eared. (Rare thus). "?P. has written a very good book in many respects, which on the whole seems to me to rank over its German counterparts. He is strong on Valerius? imitations; he gives many instances of words, phrases and scenes which are taken from earlier poets, mainly Vergil of course, (?) also Manilius. (?) P. knows his Valerie?s and he often quotes a good parallel. (?) he even gies a short but very interesting exposition of a thorny Valerian problem, the authenticity of five extra lines in ms. L (?). He is well at home in Latin literature as well whole, and one of the extras in this commentary are the remarks on Latin literature or other authors. (?) However, the main thing that we need in a commentary is help in understanding, and this too is always offered lavishly. Valerie?s is a difficult author, chiefly, I think, on the syntactic level (?). The word order and the postposition of connectives and conjunctions often trip up the unwary reader, but P. puts him right again and informs him on these figures in Valerie?s and others (?). One serious defect of P.?s book is that it lacks an index. (?) One of the less satisfactory sides of the book is that P. knows exactly what he is doing, but does not want to let his readers in on this. (?) There is no word or introduction on Valerie?s the man or the poet, nothing on his Argonautica (myth, story, literature), virtually nothing on the text. (?) P. Is also too much Against Interpretations: if it is part of the philologist?s duty to suggest why the poet is doing what he does, P. has chosen largely to ignore that part.? (HARM-JAN van DAM in Mnemosyne, 1995, pp. 238-240)."

Keywords: 9789053830222