Liminality in the Aeneid

This monograph examines Virgil's Aeneid through the lens of ritual liminality, challenging the established 'optimist-pessimist' dichotomy. It reveals the epic not as a panegyric, but as a profound meditation on the brutality of existential transition and unresolved trauma. The author demonstrates how associative liminal imagery and narrative diversions generate a unique tension: while poetic devices propel the narrative towards an increasingly inevitable fate, they simultaneously create a space of perpetual potentiality. In this light, the Trojans' journey reflects the subaltern agency of a displaced people rather than a triumphant imperial quest. Their spiritual and gnostic transformation enables Rome to emerge as a 'Citadel of Heaven.' Crucially, the study reconsiders Magna Mater as a pivotal steward of fate-almost on a par with Jupiter. By anchoring ritual studies in a rigorous classical analysis of liminal symbolism, this work demonstrates the centrality of ritual liminal thinking in the poetic texture. It shows why the depiction of Aeneas and the Trojans, in all their bizarre otherness, remains hauntingly relevant for modern readers-offering fresh perspectives for forced migration, religious studies, and gender and identity.