Sophrosune in the Greek Novel

Reading Reactions to Desire

Rachel Bird (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

242 Seiten

2022
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-19314-7 (ISBN)

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This book offers the first comprehensive evaluation of ethics in the ancient Greek novel, demonstrating how their representation of the cardinal virtue sophrosune positions these texts in their literary, philosophical and cultural contexts. Sophrosune encompasses the dispositions and psychological states of temperance, self-control, chastity, sanity and moderation. The Greek novels are the first examples of lengthy prose fiction in the Greek world, composed between the first century BCE and the fourth century CE. Each novel is concerned with a pair of beautiful, aristocratic lovers who undergo trials and tribulations, before a successful resolution is reached.

Bird focuses on the extant examples of the genre (Chariton’s Callirhoe, Xenophon of Ephesus’ Ephesiaca, Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe, Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe and Clitophon and Heliodorus’ Aethiopica), which all have the virtue of sophrosune at their heart. As each pair of lovers strives to retain their chastity in the face of adversity, and under extreme pressure from eros, it is essential to understand how this virtue is represented in the characters within each novel. Invited modes of reading also involve sophrosune, and the author provides an important exploration of how sophrosune in the reader is both encouraged and undermined by these works of fiction.

Rachel Bird is an independent researcher based in the UK. She gained her PhD at Swansea University, and has since published research on the novels of Heliodorus, Achilles Tatius and Chariton.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter One: Characterized Sophrosune
Chapter Two: Readerly Sophrosune: Reader as Voyeur
Chapter Three: Readerly Sophrosune: Eros and Sophrosune

Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	17.06.2022
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie Altertum / Antike
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-350-19314-3 / 1350193143
ISBN-13	978-1-350-19314-7 / 9781350193147
Zustand	Neuware