The Anxieties of Pliny the Younger »

This book provides a new understanding of Pliny's letters by combining historical analysis of the social pressures that shape Pliny's authorial pose with close literary analysis of the letters themselves. It demonstrates how ruling-class ideology is disseminated and how it shapes the literary persona and personal identity of a ruling-class member. The powerful heuristic tool of examining the interplay between confidence and anxieties in the letters will help restore Pliny's relatively neglected masterpiece to a more prominent place in undergraduate Latin and Roman Civilization courses.

Booknews

Finds beneath the steadily cheery surface of Pliny's published letters evidence of both conscious and unconscious tension in his upper-class Roman life. They relate to the broad and interrelated dimensions of politics, friendship, literature, and material conditions. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)