John Schafer (Northwestern): The art of the page in Catullus and Vergil

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The lecture argues that the works of Catullus and Vergil contain indications of the ways in which they are meant to be paginated, that is arranged in text-columns (paginae) on the physical bookrolls (uolumina) containing them. Surveying the evidence for this claim, it traces various ways in which the pagination guides and enhances the reading experience and effects a rich dialogue between textual content and physical form.

John Schafer is assistant professor of classics at Northwestern University. The author of Ars Didactica: Seneca’s 94th and 95th Letters (Göttingen, 2009) and various articles, his research interests include late Republican and Augustan poetry and the philosophical works of Seneca.