Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B.C. - A.D. 250

Rating:
Summary: Lavishly illustrated, unconvincingly argued
Review: Clarke claims he is going to reach down from the Roman elite (which produced the literature) to the masses and to reveal a totally alien (to a presumably homogeneous "us") sexuality. The illustrations are plentiful and may be interpreted in many ways--so many and with so little evidence that any Romans saw any of the ways Clarke does that the reader is left to choose with no real guidance from the author. (And rather a lot of the images come from luxury objects so we remain in the world of representations for the upper stratum of Augustan Rome.)

Rating:
Summary: Lavishly illustrated, unconvincingly argued
Review: Clarke claims he is going to reach down from the Roman elite (which produced the literature) to the masses and to reveal a totally alien (to a presumably homogeneous "us") sexuality. The illustrations are plentiful and may be interpreted in many ways--so many and with so little evidence that any Romans saw any of the ways Clarke does that the reader is left to choose with no real guidance from the author. (And rather a lot of the images come from luxury objects so we remain in the world of representations for the upper stratum of Augustan Rome.)

Rating:
Summary: Clearly Argued, Captivating Book on an Unusual Topic
Review: Clarke's book provides very clear analysis of the purpose and nature of ancient Roman erotica. He uses a wide range of sources--literature, instructive manuals, precedent in Greek and Roman art, setting, etc.--to back up his arguments, which he presents in a lucid style that is as pleasurable to read as it is easy to follow. I particularly recommend the chapter on erotic art in public locations in Pompeii.

Rating:
Summary: Boobs and phalluses et al.
Review: Only one problem (I think): Clarke doesn't really follow up very well on his early-proposed problem, i.e. just how it is that textual representations of sex don't allow us the same latitude of insight into Roman practices as visual works might otherwise. Still, it might be argued that these thousand-word-speaking pictures do the talking for him, and if that's the case, then I'm fine with that. Get this, though. It's a very worthy study.

Rating:
Summary: Reviews of Looking at Lovemaking have been excellent!
Review: The Times Literary Supplement (6/12/98), Lingua Franca (July/August 98), Art in America (October 98). Best quote: "Although it's always nice to have a lofty excuse to look at dirty pictures, readers who do only that will be missing out on what makes Clarke's book noteworthy." (Daniel Mendelsohn in Lingua Franca). Andrew Wallace-Hadrill in the TLS: "Like the modern visitor to Pompeii, confronted with rows of titillating titles on 'Erotic Pompeii', but cast adrift for lack of basic orientation, we have searched in vain for a guide who will put the visual representations of Roman sexuality in some sort of cultural and conceptual context. . . Clarke is a delightfully elegant, sensitive, and amusing guide."