Lezbija kao književno-socijalni konstrukt

retoričko-strukturalna funkcija ženskog lika u Katulovoj lirici

Abstract

This paper examines the interpretation of Lesbia’s character in Catullus’ poetry with the aim of overcoming the traditional dichotomy between biographical and formalist readings. The topic is relevant because it contributes to contemporary philological discussions on the relationship between fiction, social context, and literary construction in ancient lyric poetry, particularly within the framework of Neoteric poetics and intertextuality. The author proceeds from the hypothesis that the possibility cannot be excluded that a literary character based on a historical person may also be a rhetorical-structural construct, although this is not crucial for the research conducted in this paper. The aim of the study is to offer a comprehensive interpretation of Lesbia by analysing her function within the poetic system, rather than attempting to identify her with the historical Clodia. The methodological framework is based on a multidimensional approach encompassing intertextual-poetological, socio-contextual, and rhetorical-structural analysis of selected Catullan poems. Particular attention is given to the influence of Sapphic lyric, the Hellenistic aesthetic of leptótēs, and Roman social norms, as well as to rhetorical devices such as antithesis, irony, and metrical variation. The results of the study show that Lesbia functions as a dynamic rhetorical and semantic centre of Catullus’ lyric cycle. She is not a psychologically developed character, but an aesthetic function that enables the articulation of emotional contrasts, dramatizes the relationship between the public and the private, and connects Roman poetry with the Greek literary tradition. In conclusion, the author confirms a hybrid interpretative model according to which Lesbia represents a literary mechanism that transforms personal experience into a universal artistic form and constitutes a key structural element of Catullus’ lyric poetry.