Table Of ContentOXFORD STUDIES IN CLASSICAL
LITERATURE AND GENDER THEORY
General Editors
DAVID KONSTAN ALISON SHARROCK
Oxford Studies in Classical Literature and Gender Theory publishes
substantialworksoffeministliteraryresearch,whichofferagender-
sensitive perspective across the whole range of Classical literature.
ThefieldisdelimitedchronologicallybyHomerandAugustine,and
culturallybytheGreekandLatinlanguages.Withintheseparameters,
theserieswelcomesstudiesofanygenre.
Playing the Man
Performing Masculinities in the
Ancient Greek Novel
MERIEL JONES
1
3
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This book is dedicated to Amy, for taking afternoon naps
so reliably and for going to bed at 7pm every evening,
almost always without complaint; and to my dad,
who would have been proud.
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Preface
Thisbookbeganasanideaforadoctoralthesisaboutwomeninthe
ancientGreeknovels.Itdidn’tstaythatwayforlong.Throughoutmy
undergraduateyearsIwasinterested,inarathervagueandimmature
way, in the representations of gender (and especially of women) in
ancientliterature.Returningtouniversitysomeyearslatertopursue
graduate study, I had already decided that I wanted to write a thesis
about women in Greek fiction. I was told in no uncertain terms,
however,thatinthesixyearsthathadelapsedbetweenmygraduation
and my return to study, women had ‘been done’, and that my best
courseofactionwouldbeto‘domen’.Thepersonwhogavemethis
advice was half-right: while I suspected that there was plenty more
that could be written about the Greek (and Roman) novels’
female characters (and plenty has been written since and will
be written yet), doing men was indeed all the rage, but there was a
largeGreek-novel-shapedholeinmasculinitiesresearch—aholethat
thisbookseeksnowtoaddress.
Althoughmasculinitymayhavebeenmysecondchoice,innoway
wasitasecondaryone.ThefactthatIhadbeenforciblydivertedfrom
my initial course soon retreated from the forefront of my mind, as
Irealizedjusthowmuchexciting,anduntapped,materialwasoffered
bythemenoftheGreeknovelstothescholarinterestedingenderof
any kind. But women have an important place in this book none-
theless. Giventhatdiscourses ofgendertendtorest ona framework
ofalterity(masculinitydefinesitselfinoppositiontofemininity,and
vice versa), a study of men and masculinity must, to some extent,
considerwomenandfemininity.Atleastinpart,then,Igotmywish
towriteaboutwomenintheGreeknovels,sothereaderinterestedin
thestudyofwomen,andespeciallyinwomen’spossessionof‘manly’
virtues, will find something of use here, I hope. The primary aim of
thebookistoelucidatethegenderideologiesatplayinthecreationof
the male characters of five Greek novels. Those ideologies I have
grouped under the rubric of the ‘performance of gender’, drawing
on notions which belong ostensibly to modern Gender Studies and
Sociology, but which are in fact very much at home in the classical
world. I am interested in what drives the novels’ men to behave as
viii Preface
they do, and, concomitantly, in what drove their (male) authors to
writethemastheydid.
Manypeoplehavehadahandinthisbookinonewayoranother.
Karla Vickers and Pat Scott, the teachers who introduced me to
Classical Studies and Latin at school, set me on the road that has
ledhere,andinspiredinmeanenduringloveofthesubject(notwith-
standing Cicero and Tacitus). My school did not offer Greek, so I
mustthankChrisCollardforafascinating(ifeccentricandlightning-
paced) introduction to that language at Swansea University. I first
encounteredtheGreekandRomannovelsasanundergraduate,andit
wasJohnMorgan’steachingthatmademewanttoreturntoSwansea
as a postgraduate; he supervised the thesis from which the book
derives,andhasmyeternalgratitudeforhoursofstimulatingdiscus-
sion,albeitnotallofit‘on-topic’;hisestablishmentofKYKNOS,the
ancient narrative research centre, created an atmosphere of convivi-
ality which undoubtedly helped to keep the thesis going when it
threatened to burn itself out. The AHRC funded that thesis, as well
astheMAbeforeit;withouttheirsupportIcouldnothavereturned
touniversity,andthisbookwouldneverhavecomeintobeing.Imust
thank my former colleagues at the University of Wales Lampeter
(2006–8), including Ian Repath and Mirjam Plantinga, for their
patience and tolerance of my long absences, especially during the
summer of 2007 when the thesis was in its final stages. Ewen Bowie
and Ian Repath made many helpful comments which have found
their way into the book, and Ian also kindly showed me as-
yet-unpublished work. My contemporaries at Swansea, Koen De
Temmerman, Sarah Maguire, Saiichiro Nakatani, Loreto Nuñez,
and Maria Elpiniki Oikonomou made 2002–7 a very exciting time,
and well-established academics Ceri Davies, Ken Dowden, David
Konstan, Alan Lloyd, Daniel Ogden, Costas Panayotakis, and Peter
Parsonshavebeengenerousenoughtosendmetheirwork,orsimply
to offer valuable encouragement. Elements of Chapters 1 and 2 also
appear in Ancient Narrative (Jones 2007 and forthcoming a); those
involved in their publication, and in the conferences at which they
werepresented,havehelpedtoimprovethem.MyserieseditorAlison
Sharrock has offered detailed and incisive comments which have
clarified my thinking and have ultimately made a better book; for
thatImustalsothanktheanonymousreadersofthethesisIoriginally
senttoOxfordUniversityPress.HilaryO’Sheahasbeenkindenough
to understand that having a baby can rather delay the delivery of
Preface ix
a manuscript. Thanks to my mother, and to my ‘father-in-law’, for
moral (and occasional financial) support. And last but by no means
least,thankstoChrisAndertonfortoleratingmymusingsandkeep-
ing our lovely but highly energetic toddler out of the house for an
extrahournowandthen.
MerielJones
August2011
