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PEIRANO, Irene, The Rhetoric of the Roman Fake. Latin Pseudepigrapha in Context. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015. First paperback ed. X,311p. Paperback. Irene Peirano addresses a marginal but also curious group of poetic texts which she terms ‘fakes’: 'texts which self-consciously purport either to be the work of the author to whom they are attributed or to be written at a different time from that in which they were composed'; the former she calls ‘impersonations’, the latter ‘chronological fictions’ (p. 3). As Peirano justly notes, in traditional scholarship 'texts that […] are suspected of being fakes are taken into consideration only for as long as it takes either to rehabilitate them as authentic or to banish them from the canon as unwanted impostors.' (p. 8) In contrast, Peirano aims 'to build a case for the existence of the fake as a distinct literary type with its own internal rules and, in the process, to suggest new and profitable interpretations of texts that have been neglected and often poorly understood.' (p. 31) (...) It is well worth reading. Peirano has a keen eye for detail, especially for intertextual parallels, which she interprets ingeniously. Everyone interested in the (unduly) unpopular texts that are the subject of this book can profit from Peirano’s close readings. Peirano’s discussion of the cultural background of the fake is both well-informed and original.' (BORIS KAYACHEV in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.11.52). € 36.00 (New) ISBN: 9781107527461