This study by Scott Weiss of the representation of the grotesque in the Neronian age is a welcome addition to the growing scholarship on the presence and function of the grotesque in the literary and visual culture of the early Empire. The Neronian grotesque is not a special category of the grotesque unique to the period of Nero’s reign, as we might at first infer from the title of this study. The book presents a survey of grotesque phenomena and their impact, intended or real, documented in works of art, chiefly from the mid-first century. For W., ‘Neronian’ is not an aesthetic category but a cultural concept understood in a more inclusive sense than the word itself would imply. This semantic dilation of the term leads the author to conceive of Neronian culture as operating ‘above and beyond Nero the man’ (3).

The book has three main themes: the fantasy–reality relationship, hybridity and ornament, each examined in two chapters. The introduction is a statement of the book’s theoretical premises and a rationale for the breakdown of the material into the individual chapters, while the first chapter is a survey of the changing concept of the grotesque from its first appearance in relation to the excavation of the Domus Aurea to the present. The bulk of the book consists of case studies, such as Seneca’s description of Hostius Quadra’s hall of mirrors in the Naturales Questiones and the depiction of Narcissus in the Casa dell’Ara Massima.

W. derives his methodological premises from Frances Connelly’s study of grotesque themes in Western art and culture. They are, first, that the grotesque is better understood by asking what impact it has on its viewers than by asking what it is in itself; and second, that this is most usefully done in the spatial context, real or imaginary, in which the grotesque comes into contact with its audience. The intended impact of the grotesque is to destabilise and disrupt the conventional understanding of the world that viewers may bring to their encounter, provoking an unsettling emotional response, hence the inclusion of the paintings of Narcissus and Medea in its aesthetic purview. The setting in which the encounter takes place is understood as a locus of interaction, a Spielraum in which the pieces on display come into dialogue with each other and with their viewers. Starting with these premises, W. examines the presence of grotesque motifs in the literary and visual culture of the Neronian period.

W. presents the Domus Aurea as a place to be experienced, and he illustrates this with the description contained in a Renaissance Italian poem (Antiquarie prospetiche romane) about descending into the excavated grotto. W. offers careful readings of literary and visual works by setting them in dialogue with each other as expressions of the same Zeitgeist. In his analysis of paintings and decorations, he explains the complicated dynamics of the viewing experience. For example, in the painting of Narcissus the grotesque hybrid motifs of the surrounding ornamentation underscore the function they perform in guiding the viewer’s gaze towards the painting they enclose and yet, simultaneously, away from it and towards themselves. In general, viewing occurs in a Spielraum structured by sight lines, whether the space is real, metaphorical or depicted, though the distinction between these types of space at times could have been more effectively emphasised by the author. In the Hostius episode, perhaps our attention could also have been drawn to the metaphorical Spielraum of the reading experience, showing that, in his description, Seneca himself indulges in creating a literary grotesque effect while denouncing the grotesque phenomenon of his subject’s sexual depravity.

W. also develops a concept that he calls the plus quam aesthetic, ‘a mode of display that actively seeks to expand past the parameters of representation’ (149). He considers this aesthetic in the literary culture, by closely examining the excess and decorative function of language in such works as the Pharsalia, the Thyestes and the Aetna, as well as in visual culture, by discussing in detail a ceiling fresco in the Domus Aurea. In all cases, the decorative grotesques surpass the framework of representation, bring to the forefront of consciousness the idea of excess, and control the dynamics of the viewing experience.

The advantage of this approach is that it very usefully presents the grotesque as an art form immediately related to the viewers’ observational context and hermeneutical stance, located at the intersection of their conception of the real world, their cultural memories and their aesthetic presuppositions. The grotesque becomes a powerful hermeneutic tool that can enable the reader to bring into sharp focus its disruptive and destabilising force. It would have been useful, however, to add a discussion of the distinctive traits of the grotesque itself, tracing a dividing line between psychological grotesque phenomena and their artistic representations in relation to the logic of the different genres examined so as not to leave the readers with an open-ended idea of the grotesque. This observation notwithstanding, The Neronian Grotesque represents an engaging and valuable addition to the bibliography on Neronian culture.