This volume collects the proceedings of an international conference on the Présence de Juvénal held in Clermont-Ferrand in November 2021. This ambitious work, characterised by the breadth of research interests and the diversity of individual contributions, fits within the context of a renewed and ever-growing interest in literary criticism for the figure and works of Juvenal, the indignant satirist who gave sublime form to the Musa pedestris. It complements and to some extent enriches the recent volume edited by Stefano Grazzini and Antonio Stramaglia, Giovenale nella letteratura europea (2022), which brought together essays from a conference (Momenti della fortuna di Giovenale nella letteratura europea) held in Aquino, the poet's hometown, in October of the same year, dedicated precisely to the reception of Juvenalian satire in subsequent literatures.
This renewed interest in Juvenal has seen the publication in recent years of significant studies on the satiric genre and numerous commentaries on individual satires or groups of them. It has also promoted international colloquia and study days (the volume provides a useful bibliography at the end of the introductory essay, summarising the major publications of the last twenty-five years). The volume at hand effectively captures the outcomes and results of these endeavours, presenting a polychromatic image of one of the most controversial and fascinating poets in Latin literature. From this perspective, the work not only meets the expectations of an academic audience but also has interest for the general reader, who will appreciate its intercultural and intertextual outlook.
The volume opens with the extensive introductory essay by Grégoire Blanc, Fabrice Galtier and Rémy Poignault (7–13), clarifying the rationale for a work that is inherently polyphonic, intertwining textual criticism, palaeography, codicology, poetics, stylistic analysis, comparatism and intertextuality (8). It is made coherent by a lively interest in the satirist's text and its literary legacy. The twenty-seven contributions, varying in length and scope, are organised along a path from textual tradition to the Fortleben of Juvenal, divided into four sections.
The first section, Éditer, commenter, traduire (17–146), comprises six contributions covering various aspects, including tracing the place of origin of the ms. Bodl. Canon. Class. Lat. 41, the only known witness to the so-called Winstedt fragment, to Montecassino (Alessandra D'Antonio); evidence for the recensio λ of the scholia recentiora on Juvenal (Daniela Gallo); glosses and comments on Juvenal 10.80–81 from the Carolingian era to the sixteenth century, focusing on the corruption of the famous formula panem et circenses to pan et circenses in most manuscripts (Frédéric Duplessis); the reception of Juvenalian text in Carolingian scholia until the Latin Quattrocento (Valeria Mattaloni); the commentaries of the early humanist Sozomeno da Pistoia, whose exegetical practice appears still medieval, driven by encyclopaedic and lexical rather than interpretative inclination (Stefano Grazzini); and the prefatory epistle to the translation of the Satires by the Jesuit Jérôme Tarteron (Sarah Gaucher).
The second section, Le regard du satiriste sur son temps (147–272), also includes six essays on various topics, such as Juvenal's complaints in the first 97 lines of the seventh satire about the miserable living conditions of poets (Robert Bedon); Juvenalian use of irony, often expressed through hyperbole and obscenity, focusing on the practice of inheritance-hunting (Anthime Rigoulay); passages in the satires where the poet employs motifs of recognition and identification (Fabrice Galtier); comparisons between Juvenal and Lucian of Samosata, which document a transnational and transcultural literature (Eleni Bozia); the expression of indignatio, manifested through devices such as rhetorical questioning, interpellatio and sententia, emphasising Seneca's stylistic influence (Daniel Vallat); the nature of laughter provoked by indignation, a laughter that is both corrosive and consoling, an essential component of the lyrical voice (Pascal Debailly).
The third section, Mémoire de Juvénal dans les littératures tardo-antique et médiévale (273–441), is the most substantial. It begins with Étienne Wolff's essay on the rediscovery of Juvenal in the fourth century after a long period of oblivion; it focuses on Ausonius, the first poet to show good knowledge of the satirist. Franco Bellandi addresses the delicate issue of the relationship between Juvenal and Ammianus Marcellinus, who expresses a strongly negative judgement on the poet, rejecting his vision of Roman history and culture, but then uses him quite freely in his historiographical work. Stefania Filosini's contribution examines Prudentius’ Contra Symmachum, where echoes of Juvenal serve as argumentative resources in the construction of poetic discourse. Catherine Notter explores Juvenal's presence in the secular production of Dracontius (Romulea and Orestis tragoedia). Vincent Zarini's contribution examines Ennodius, who seems to take up some of Juvenal's major themes, such as the education of children and the nobility of the soul. Luciana Furbetta analyses the presence of Juvenal's textual memory in Christian poets, particularly in poems inspired by the Bible in fifth- and sixth-century Gaul. Concetta Longobardi considers Juvenal's presence in the late antique commentators, finding its expression in Servius (who repeatedly quotes Juvenal in his commentary on Virgil) and his school. Finally, Armando Carosi's extensive essay investigates Aldhelm of Malmesbury, whose Juvenalian quotations are partly attributable to direct consultation of the Satires and partly to the mediation of Priscian.
The fourth section, Mémoire de Juvénal dans la littérature moderne (443–564), includes seven contributions covering a chronological span from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. These essays discuss the presence of the Juvenalian model in the Nuova Opera of the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Cavalcanti, who uses him to denounce contemporary moral corruption (Arianna Capirossi); the influence of Juvenalian indignatio as the model for the criticism of vice in Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné's poem Les tragiques (Sangoul Ndong); the recurring theme of satire against women in Simonides of Amorgos, Juvenal and Boileau (Gregory Bouchaud); the reception of Juvenal's third satire in Metastasio's works, including his 1739 translation (Tiziana Ragno); Victor Hugo's preference for Juvenal, described as ‘le grand romain’ in William Shakespeare, drawing on an aesthetic theory that assigns absolute pre-eminence to genius (Romain Vignest). The final two chapters consider Juvenalian echoes in two French authors of the twentieth century, both excellent connoisseurs of ancient literature: Henry de Montherlant (Pierre Duroisin) and Marguerite Yourcenar (Rémy Poignault).
The volume concludes with valuable summaries in French and English, organised in strictly alphabetical order, and an Index of references to Juvenal's Satires; in such a large volume dealing with diverse topics, an index of names and notable things would have been beneficial. A short review certainly cannot do justice to the value of a meritorious work that marks a definite advance in the understanding of Juvenalian satire. It opens new insights and interesting perspectives beyond the sometimes narrow boundaries of classicists, destined to fuel a fruitful critical debate on an author who, from Late Antiquity to the present, has never ceased to speak to us.
