There are no academic literature tests at the CAJCL State Conventions. However, questions about literature come up very frequently in HS-3 and HS-ADV certamen.
The best book that is basically the bible of Latin literature is Latin Literature: A History by Gian Biagio Conte (ISBN 0801862531). However, that book is HUGE! So if you feel intimidated, use Ramakrishnan's outline.
Overall, you probably should just use the outline. It is extremely comprehensive and will cover pretty much all the information you'll ever be asked about. Here is how you should study:
*Major authors include Plautus, Terence, Catullus, Lucretius, Cicero, Caesar, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Livy, Seneca, Juvenal, Martial, Tacitus, Sallust.
The best book that is basically the bible of Latin literature is Latin Literature: A History by Gian Biagio Conte (ISBN 0801862531). However, that book is HUGE! So if you feel intimidated, use Ramakrishnan's outline.
Overall, you probably should just use the outline. It is extremely comprehensive and will cover pretty much all the information you'll ever be asked about. Here is how you should study:
- Learn who the authors are of all the major works (e.g. De Rerum Natura - Lucretius)
- Learn the backgrounds of all the major* authors (e.g. Cicero was born 106 B.C. in Arpinum). Birth locations are important!
- Learn the firsts (e.g. Ennius was the first to divide his works into books)
- Learn the basic plot of all the major works (e.g. In Plautus' Aulularia the old miser Euclio has hidden a pot of gold, which is stolen and used to pay for a young man, Lyconides, to marry the woman he raped, Euclio’s daughter, Phaedria)
- Then strive to learn as much more as you possibly can. Basically, learn everything mentioned in the outline (this includes the number of books each work is divided into).
*Major authors include Plautus, Terence, Catullus, Lucretius, Cicero, Caesar, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Livy, Seneca, Juvenal, Martial, Tacitus, Sallust.