Reading Fiction with Lucian: Fakes, Freaks and Hyperreality

320 Pages·2014·2.22 MB·English

by  Karen ní Mheallaigh

READING FICTION WITH LUCIAN
This book offers a captivating new interpretation of Lucian as a
fictionaltheoristandwritertostandalongsidethenovelistsoftheday,
bringingtobearonhisworksawholenewsetofreadingstrategies.It
arguesthattheaestheticandculturalissuesLucianfaced,inaworld
ofmim¯esisandreplication,wereakintothosefoundinpostmodern
contexts:theubiquityofthefake,theerasureoforigins,thefocuson
the freakish and weird at the expense of the traditional. In addition
to exploring the texture of Lucian’s own writing, Dr n´ı Mheallaigh
usesLucianasafocalpointthroughwhichtoexamineotherfictional
textsoftheperiod,includingAntoniusDiogenes’Theincrediblethings
beyondThule,Dictys’JournaloftheTrojanWarandPtolemyChennus’
Novelhistory,andrevealstheimportanceoffiction’sengagementwith
itscontemporarycultureofwriting,entertainmentandwonder.
karen n´ı mheallaigh is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the
UniversityofExeter.Herresearchfocusesonthepostclassicalliterary
cultures of the Hellenistic and Romano-Greek worlds, especially
ancientfiction.
greek culture in the roman world
Editors
susan e. alcock,BrownUniversity
jas´ elsner, CorpusChristiCollege,Oxford
simon goldhill, UniversityofCambridge
michael squire,King’sCollegeLondon
The Greek culture of the Roman Empire offers a rich field of study. Extraordinary
insightscanbegainedintoprocessesofmulticulturalcontactandexchange,political
andideologicalconflict,andthecreativityofachanging,polyglotempire.Duringthis
period,manyfundamentalelementsofWesternsocietywerebeingsetinplace:from
the rise of Christianity, to an influential system of education, to long-lived artistic
canons.ThisseriesisthefirsttofocusontheresponseofGreekculturetoitsRoman
imperial setting as a significant phenomenon in its own right. To this end, it will
publish original and innovative research in the art, archaeology, epigraphy, history,
philosophy,religion,andliteratureoftheempire,withanemphasisonGreekmaterial.
Recenttitlesintheseries:
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PeterThonemann
GreeceandtheAugustanCulturalRevolution
J.S.Spawforth
RethinkingtheGods:PhilosophicalReadingsofReligioninthePost-HellenisticPeriod
PeterVanNuffelen
SaintsandSymposiasts:TheLiteratureofFoodandtheSymposium
inGreco-RomanandEarlyChristianCulture
JasonKo¨nig
TheSocialWorldofIntellectualsintheRomanEmpire:Sophists,
Philosophers,andChristians
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ReligionandIdentityinPorphyryofTyre:TheLimitsofHellenisminLateAntiquity
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SyrianIdentityintheGreco-RomanWorld
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READING FICTION WITH
LUCIAN
Fakes, Freaks and Hyperreality
KAREN N´I MHEALLAIGH
UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107079335
©Karenn´ıMheallaigh2014
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2014
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
n´ıMheallaigh,Karen.
ReadingfictionwithLucian:fakes,freaksandhyperreality/Karenn´ıMheallaigh.
pages cm.–(GreekcultureintheRomanworld)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-07933-5(hardback)
1.Lucian,ofSamosata–Criticismandinterpretation. 2.Greekfiction–Historyandcriticism.
I.Title.
pa4236.n5 2014
888(cid:2).0109–dc23 2014024304
isbn978-1-107-07933-5Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
DoJimmymomh´ılesto´r.

Contents
Acknowledgements pageviii
Preface xi
1. Lucian’sPrometheanpoetics:hybridity,fictionandthe
postmodern 1
2. Toxaris:microfictionandtheGreeknovel 39
3. Philopseudes:philosophyoffiction,dramaofreading 72
4. Semioticfictions:metamorphosesofthereaderfromThe
incrediblethingsbeyondThuletoThenameoftherose 108
5. BeyondThule:adventuresattheedgeofthetext 144
6. Truestories:travelsinhyperreality 206
7. Conclusion:fictionandthewonder-cultureoftheRoman
empire 261
Bibliography 278
Generalindex 299
Indexlocorum 303
vii
Acknowledgements
Ihavemanydebtsofgratitudeforthehelpandsupportwhich–inmany
differentways–Ihavereceivedfromcolleaguesandfriendsinthewriting
ofthisbook,anditisapleasuretoacknowledgethesehere.Iwillbebrief,
butmythanksaredeeplyfeltineachandeverycase.
Firstandforemost,IwouldliketothankJudithMossmanwhobrought
me to Lucian in the first place and thereby opened up for me an entirely
newworld.Fortheirjudiciousadviceondifferentmattersandsupportat
different times, I would like to thank Barbara Borg, Ewen Bowie, David
Braund, Kathy Coleman, John M. Dillon, Chris Gill, Simon Goldhill,
RebeccaLanglands,FrancescaMestre,StephenMitchell,JudithMossman,
DavidScourfield,RichardSeaford,MichaelSharp,KeithSidwellandTim
Whitmarsh. I am very grateful to friends and colleagues who read and
commented on portions of this book in draft, especially Maria Pretzler,
Sharon Marshall, Peter Wiseman, Matthew Wright, Katharine von
Stackelberg and Isabelle Torrance, the warmth of whose friendship has
never been diminished by the distance of 4,000 miles. I would also par-
ticularly like to thank those who very kindly and generously shared their
workandideaswithme,ofteninadvanceofpublication,especiallySilvio
Ba¨r, Ewen Bowie, James Brusuelas, Myriam Diarra, Ken Dowden, Peter
Gainsford,OwenHodkinson,LawrenceKim,WilliamJohnson,Petervon
Mo¨llendorff, John Morgan, Judith Mossman, Daniel Ogden, Peter
Parsons, Denis Pausch, Martin Pitts, Valentina Popescu, Ian Repath,
HelenaSchmedt,DavidScourfieldandTimWhitmarsh.
Icouldnothavewrittenthisbookwithoutthegood-humouredsupport
of my colleagues in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at
Exeterandthegenerousprovisionofresearchleavewhichwasmadepossible
by an AHRC fellowship in 2011, for which I am deeply grateful. Also –
researchwouldhavebeenimpossiblewithoutthevigorousdetectivework
oftheinter-libraryloansteaminExeter’suniversitylibrary,whohavebeen
helpfulineveryway(JanNewberrydeservesspecialmentionhere).Iwould
viii