Subverting Tragic Plots in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica 1.28-2.11
By Valeria Spacciante, Columbia University
The heroine’s apparent death is a common narrative pattern in the “ideal” novels – Chariton, Achilles Tatius, and Heliodorus display at least one scene where the male protagonist believes his beloved to be dead and laments over her body (Chall. 1.5.1-2; Leuc. 3.15, 5.7, 7.3-4; Aeth. 2.4.1-4). However, her death is illusory – the audience soon finds out that the woman is alive, usually because another woman died in her place.
The passio of Galaction and Episteme: converting erotic fiction
By Benedek Kruchio, University of Cambridge
The proposed 20-minute paper focuses on the Passio prior of Galaction and Episteme (BHG 665), a Christian work from late antiquity or Byzantium (Braginskaya; Alwis). This text presents itself as a sequel to Achilles Tatius’s novel, Leucippe and Clitophon, and narrates the marriage and conversion of (G)leucippe and Clitophon as well as the life and martyrdom of their son and his wife.
Literary Fiction and the Poetics of (Dis)Belief in Lucian and Aristotle
By Alessandra Migliara, CUNY Graduate Center
In the prologue to his Verae Historiae (VH, 1.1-4), Lucian declares that everything that he will utter is a lie, and that no reader should believe him. While this passage has been traditionally interpreted in relationship with Lucian’s satirical intents, particularly in reference to the historiographical tradition (Clay-Brusuelas, Georgiadou-Larmour), in this paper I suggest a new interpretation, considering it in relationship with Aristotle’s Poetics.