A sustained exploration of the wicked charm of Ovid's perennially popular Amores, focusing on the characterization of the poet-lover (cocksure yet hapless) and his desire for the erotic agitation supplied by his uncooperative mistress and his demanding verse form. Scholarly yet accessible, so will also appeal to students and teachers.

Offers detailed reading of the Amores, oriented toward the writer's and reader's pleasure, that reframes the discussion around elegy and identity.