The Ancient Novel

This widely acclaimed book offers an introduction to the ancient novel and presents the latest research findings in the field. For this English translation, Professor Holzberg has substantially updated and expanded the German edition of 1986. Niklas Holzberg considers the ancient novel as encompassing idealistic and comic realistic narratives with the central themes of love and adventure. He develops his definition of the genre and offers explanations for why this literary form was so popular during the Hellenistic period. He goes on to examine the individual texts in chronological order, providing a summary of the contents of each, relevant background information and interpretative pointers.

Author's note
The Genre	p. 1
A conventional plot: Xenophon's Ephesiaca	p. 1
The surviving texts	p. 6
Ancient labels	p. 8
Characteristics of the idealistic and comic-realistic novels	p. 9
The fringe: other novel-like literature of antiquity	p. 11
A definition of the genre	p. 26
The Rise of the Genre	p. 28
Theories on the origins	p. 28
The novel as a product of political, social and cultural upheavals	p. 29
The novel as 'closet drama' and 'bourgeois prose epic'	p. 32
The novel's ancient readership	p. 33
Novel and historiography	p. 35
Ninus	p. 38
Sesonchosis	p. 39
A genre is born	p. 41
The Idealistic Novel in Early Imperial Times	p. 43
Chariton, Callirhoe	p. 43
Other novels in historical dress: Parthenope, Chione, Calligone	p. 48
A string of adventures: Xenophon of Ephesus, Ephesiaca	p. 51
Lollianus, Phoenicica	p. 54
An attempt to diversify: Antonius Diogenes, The Wonders Beyond Thule	p. 57
The Comic-Realistic Novel	p. 61
A Greek comic-realistic novel in prose and verse: Iolaus	p. 62
Topsy-turvy world: Petronius, Satyrica	p. 63
Appearances and reality: the Greek Ass Romance	p. 72
Satire, Platonism and mysteries: Apuleius, Metamorphoses	p. 77
The Idealistic Novel in the Age of the Second Sophistic	p. 84
Wallowing in lurid effects: Iamblichus, Babyloniaca	p. 85
Adding the human touch: Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon	p. 87
Sexual psychology and bucolic paradise: Longus, Daphnis and Chloe	p. 93
Acme of narrative technique: Heliodorus, Aethiopica	p. 99
Select bibliography	p. 106
Index	p. 127
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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