Welcome back to The Invisible College, my series of literature courses for paid subscribers. The introduction to and schedule for the 2026 season is here. The 2024 and 2025 archives are here. This episode, of which the first 10 minutes are free, is on Virgil’s Aeneid. We discuss the distinction between the Greek and Roman character; Virgil’s posthumous canonization as prophet and magician; his belated contrivance on Homer’s model of a founding epic for Rome and its possible source in elite and imperial patronage; the poem’s decadent evasion of the martial destiny it narrates; its ambiguous portrait of love and war; the metaphysics of its underworld; its contest of masculine and feminine and interest in queerness; the mythical archetypes (Venus, Juno, Saturn, Mars, Diana) it mobilizes; and more. We end with Paglia’s stern reading of its sexual personae and Borges’s warm tribute to Virgil as patron of poetry. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe! The slideshow corresponding to the episode can be downloaded behind the paywall:
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Grand Hotel Abyss to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
