Lucretius : poetry, philosophy, science /

This collection earns kudos as a welcome addition to a literature focusing on the poetic masterpiece of Lucretius, De rerum natura, such as Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve (CH, Mar'12, 49-3702) and Gerard Passannante's The Lucretian Renaissance (CH, Apr'12, 49-4301). The outcome of an international conference on Lucretius, this slender but capacious volume presents ten incisive essays that inject--both separately and taken together--considerable analytical substance into the most discerning cross-disciplinary discourse currently available on this subject. The differing scholarly methodologies in evidence here reflect the complexity and multivalent nature of the poem itself and the degree to which De rerum natura can be viewed variously as a complex work of literary art, philosophy, and science. The contributors address salient issues relating to the reading and interpretation of Lucretius. Sharrock's introduction situates each chapter as positioned within a comprehensive "ring-composed" format, thus conveniently mapping for readers the direction, interstices, and extent of the array when traversed as a linear narrative continuum. This magisterial collaborative effort constitutes a distinguished interdisciplinary contribution to contemporary Lucretian scholarship. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. J. S. Louzonis St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY