"A Commentary to Longus, ""Daphnis and Chloe,"" Book 3"

Trzaskoma, Stephen Michael

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Description

Title

"A Commentary to Longus, ""Daphnis and Chloe,"" Book 3"

Author(s)

Trzaskoma, Stephen Michael

Issue Date

1998

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Calder, William M., III

Department of Study

Classical Philology

Discipline

Classical Philology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Language, Ancient

Language

eng

Abstract

Longus' pastoral romance is one of only five complete and extant pieces of extended fiction from antiquity, which form a genre now regularly referred to as the Ancient Novel. Book 3 (of 4) is pivotal in many ways for Daphnis and Chloe as a whole, acting as a hinge connecting the first two books with the last. The plot changes direction dramatically; a new character is introduced, the sophisticated seductress Lycaenion, who, out of desire mixed with thoughtfulness, gives an erotic education to the hero and in doing so undermines the basis of the first portion of the novel and provides the impetus for the transition to the second. The commentary explores not only the skill with which Longus executes that shift, but also the magnificent set pieces in which the full exuberance of the novelist's style and also often his clever reworking of earlier Greek authors come to the fore: the oddly sober narrative of a war between two cities told in only a few sentences, but calling to mind the intellectual rivalry of Thucydides and Herodotus; the famous episode of Daphnis' bird hunting; the inset tale of Echo and Pan; and the brilliant reworking of Sappho's poetry which closes the book. Throughout, particular attention is paid to philological matters and matters of style.

Graduation Semester

1998

Type of Resource

text

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