"This study traces Virgil's journey through twentieth-century France by examining his profile in the works of Gide, Aragon, Valery, Pagnol, Klossowski, Butor, Simon and Pinget, and by looking at how their Virgilian appropriations complement and modify current readings of the ""Aeneid"" and other works. His presence in these works provides insights not only into modern French culture but into the Virgilian oeuvre itself. This process of mutual illumination is highlighted in Cox's argument by theories of intertextuality and dialogism. Although Virgil's presence in French literature is characterized by its focus on exile and uncertainty, Cox's study reaffirms the multivalency of this great European poet and his continuing relevance at the turn of the millennium."

Fiona Cox

The Presence of the Past: Fama and Fata in the Shield of Aeneas; Intertextual Virgil; French Virgilian Criticism and the Importance of Broch; Arma virumque cano: Songs of War; The French Bucoliasts; Translating the Aetieid to the Nouveau Roman: Pierre Klossowski's Translation; A Modern-Day Aeneas: Virgil's Journey through Butor's ha Modification; 'La Bataille de la phrase' : Virgil in the Novels of Claude Simon; The Good Shepherd: Virgil in the Novels of Robert Pinget, Conclusion