Crafting Characters: Heroes and Heroines in the Ancient Greek Novel - Hardcover

De Temmerman, Koen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199686149 ISBN 13: 9780199686148

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2014

Synopsis

The oldest European novels were written in ancient Greek during the first few centuries of the Common Era. Despite the gold rush towards these novels in the last two decades and the resurgence of interest in representations of character in literary studies, and Classical studies in particular, no volume has yet been devoted to exploring character and characterization in the ancient Greek novels.

This study analyzes the characterization of the protagonists in the five extant, so-called "ideal" Greek novels (those of Chariton, Xenophon of Ephesus, Achilles Tatius, Longus, and Heliodorus). De Temmerman offers close readings of techniques of characterization used in each novel and combines modern--mainly, but not exclusively, structuralist--narratology and ancient rhetoric. He argues that three conceptual couples central to ancient theory of character, typification/individuation, idealistic/realistic characterization, and static/dynamic character, construct character in these narratives more ambiguously, more elusively, and in more complex ways than has so far been realized. Throughout the different chapters, it also becomes clear how intimately presentations of character are intertwined with self-portrayal and performance of the self.

About this title

About the Author

Koen De Temmerman is a Research Professor at Ghent University. He is also a visiting member of the Classics Center at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

Review

"This rich, well-written book, the product of a heavy revision of the author's doctoral thesis, is a study of characterization in the extant Greek novels. ... [De Temmerman's] systematization of the different strands of character building constitutes an original effort that brings to light an intricate web of ideas and techniques underlying the process of characterization. ... The book is...a rhetorical achievement--well-argued and persuasive." --Mnemosyne

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0199686149
• ISBN 13: 9780199686148
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 420