Norwid’s Roma antiqua in its full glory

Magdalena Karamucka’s book Antyczny Rzym Norwida [Norwid’s Ancient Rome] is the first monographic study of the problem addressed in the title. Ancient Rome is presented in this valuable study from different perspectives: as a geographical, historical and cultural reality and as a literary topos. The starting point for the discussion is a chapter devoted to a Roman episode of Norwid’s biography and his Roman readings. Another subject of analysis are the poet’s political, religious and historiosophical reflections about Rome and his remarks on literature, art and Roman theatre. The main, comparative part is devoted to a meticulous analysis of reminiscences, quotations (paraphrases), titles, etc. taken from works of Roman authors (including Catullus, Horace, Juvenal, Ovid, Virgil), Norwid’s translational work and his Roman correspondence. However, Norwid’s Roma antiqua presented in the monograph is not frozen in a dead form. The author shows in an interesting and convincing way how this romanitas becomes a starting (or reference) point for the author of Quidam in his reflections on almost all aspects of his contemporary times.