"This volume - focusing specifically on gender dynamics in Latin love poetry - moves beyond the polarized critical positions that such poetry simply either confirms traditional gender roles or subverts them. From an exploration of the ways in which Latin erotic texts can have both effects, shifting power back and forth between male and female, one conclusion becomes clear: the dynamics of gender in Latin amatory poetry do not translate the cultural and historical norms of Roman society in any single or simple way. In fact, as several essays show, there is a dialectical relationship between this poetry and Roman cultural practices. "--Jacket.