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Unflattening the page: Lucian, ecphrasis, and the embodied reader


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Type

Thesis

Change log

Authors

Athanasopoulou, Anna 

Abstract

My thesis, entitled ‘Unflattening the page: Lucian, ecphrasis, and the embodied reader’ has as its main focus the ecphrastic work of Lucian, a second-century CE Syrian-Greek writer, and one of the most prolific and versatile writers of Greek imperial literature. It argues that imperial, and in particular Lucianic, ecphrasis (a vivid style of descriptive writing which aims to bring its subject matter ‘before the eyes of the reader’) might be better understood from the point of view of sensory aesthetics and embodiment. The thesis’ argument unfolds in three chapters, each of which is motivated by a particular subset of theoretical and cultural concerns. The chapters are organised thematically around the topics of ‘frames,’ ‘space,’ and ‘bodies.’ Chapter One is predominantly about the generic self- reflexivity of ecphrasis with a focus on Achilles Tatius’ novel Leucippe and Clitophon (his only surviving work) and Lucian’s De Domo and Dialogi Marini 15. It sets out to show how imperial ecphrasis taps into the sensory potential of frames, liminality, and liquidity (by which I mean liquid elements, mainly water) in order to prompt reflection on the phenomenon of ecphrasis as such. Chapters Two and Three turn the focus away from the edges of ecphrasis and on to the world contained within the ecphrastic frame. Chapter Two asks how ecphrasis does space and shows how Lucian’s use of enargeia in the Hippias and Icaromenippus can solicit bodily engagement on the part of the readers as much as it can prompt critical thinking about the role, function and effects of enargeia itself. Chapter Three moves the study of ecphrasis beyond the traditional exclusivity of objects and places and sets it in an expanding experiential arena which includes events that take place within the confines of the bedroom and in the realm of a sacred temple. Its aim is to understand how ecphrasis conjures up the sexual body on the page. It shows how ecphrasis and enargeia, as tropes that activate somatic modes of attention, can provide a very powerful framework for an embodied approach to the sexual imagery in the Onos and Amores. A brief conclusion reflects on the value of developing a sensuous theory of ecphrasis as well as on the implications this project has for the study of imperial ecphrasis more broadly and the field of classics in general.

Description

Date

2021-11-02

Advisors

Whitmarsh, Tim
Vout, Caroline

Keywords

ecphrasis, imperial Greek literature, Lucian, body and the senses, art and text

Qualification

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Awarding Institution

University of Cambridge
Sponsorship
George & Marie Vergottis & Magdalene Leslie Wilson Scholarship (awarded by the Cambridge Trust), A.G. Leventis Foundation Scholarship