Dreams and Suicides

This study discusses the Greek novel through the ages, from the genre's flowering in late Antiquity to its learned revival in twelfth-century Byzantium. Its unique feature is its full coverage of the Byzantine novels, demonstrating that they both depend upon and react against the ancient novel, and can only be understood against the cultural backdrop of ancient Greek literature. Dreams and Suicides analyses the cultural symptoms and attitudes portrayed or implied in the novels, thus rooting them in a social rather than merely a literary context. For all students of ancient culture, this book provides important and original insights into the genre of ancient literature.

Suzanne MacAlister is Lecturer in Ancient Greek Literature and Classical Civilisation at the University of Sydney. She has published on dreams, gender symbolism and the novels in late Antiquity and twelfth-century Byzantium.