Editors' Introduction
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Editors’ Introduction This second volume of Fictional Traces (Fictional Traces II) contains four- teen articles dealing with the reception of the ancient novel in literature and art. These articles are revised versions of papers originally presented at the Fourth International Conference on the Ancient Novel (ICAN IV), which took place at the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, in Lisbon, on July 21-26, 2008. The papers are assembled in four groups according to a thematic ar- rangement. The first group contains two studies on the reception of the an- cient novel in the visual tradition; the second includes essays that discuss the echoes of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses in art and literature; the third category brings together papers involving the reception of Petronius’ Satyrica; and finally the essays of the fourth section are unified by their focus on the re- ception of the ancient novel in the performative arts. Hugh Mason’s paper introduces the first series of two papers that illu- strate the repercussions of the ancient novel in visual arts, in secular writing and in popular narrative. In “Charikleia at the Mauritshuis” Mason uses as an example of such influence a painting by Abraham Bloemaert in the Maurits- huis, the 17th century town house in Den Haag which is home to the (Dutch) Royal Collection of Paintings, that depicts Theagenes receiving the price at the Pythia from Charicleia. This painting, inspired by Ethiopica 4, 4, com- memorated the wedding in 1625 of Amalia von Solms (1602-1675), and Frederik Hendrik of Orange (1584-1647), the third Stadhouder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. It is a “history painting”, a large-scale painting incorporating figures that, like episodes in history used as exempla in rhetor- ic, portray a narrative illustrating a human virtue of interest to the artist or his patron. In other words, it is the inverse of a literary ecphrasis, that is the verbal representation or literary description of a real or imaginary work of art (painting, sculpture, tapestry, architecture, bas-relief). As Mason stresses, the iconoclasm of the Reformation and the New Republic’s need for its own imagery made secular history paintings especially popular in the Netherlands in the 16th century, just at the time when the ancient novels were becoming widely known. In this context, ancient novels provided artists with a fresh repertory of classical narratives for history paintings. The “mannerist” ef- Fictional Traces II, IX–XXI X EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION fects and other aspects of Heliodorus’ Aithiopika, such as the tales of ship- wrecks and pirates, the exotic environment and the high moral seriousness, made the novel very popular, and by far the best known and most admired of the ancient novels. So, the history illustrated by such painting suggests some parallels between Heliodorus’ narrative of a marriage achieved after despe- rate adventures and the princely couple’s own experience. Bloemaert’s painting, which iconographically recalls his Adoration of the Magi, may also give some indication of how the Prince viewed his wife, and consequently present an outstanding example of ideas of companionship and even equality in marriage that are characteristic both of the ancient novels and of contem- porary Dutch culture. The second article of this series, “Susanna and her Sisters. The Virtuous Lady Motif in Sacred Tradition and its Representation in Art, Secular Writ- ing and Popular Narrative”, by Faustina C.W. Doufikar-Aerts, is focused on the development of the virtuous lady motif as represented in the biblical story of Susanna and the Elders. This ancient motif can be found in many works of literature, art and music. It also survived in novellas and narratives in several languages of the Middle East, and it became a favorite subject of iconography both in early Christianity and later in medieval illuminated Bibles and books of exempla. However, research and criticism have been concentrated on issues such as the story’s origin and date of composition, as well as on its close connection with the Book of Daniel (13) in the Septua- gint and Theodotion (floruit 2nd c. A.D.), and little attention has been paid to other evidence of “Susanna” in a non-biblical context. Doufikar-Aerts wi- dens the scope of the analysis, uncovering other testimonies of the Biblical story, by reviewing and comparing other versions related to the traditions of the Samaritans, Shi’ite and Sunnite Muslims, Copts and Ethiopian Jews, and by establishing their relation to the Biblical source. Doufikar-Aerts’ analysis leads to the conclusion that the Susanna story originated in the ancient world, and that it is probably much older than the version that became known through the Septuagint and Theodotion. She also argues that other branches (apparently more closely linked to Jewish historiography) could originate from a parallel line, and that, in the wake of this tradition, other versions were created. She also argues that it cannot be ruled out that the Biblical story of Susanna was an excerpt taken from a pre-existing legend or story which had a mythical character, and that from this legend only the Susanna part survived in the Bible for its function as an edifying parable. However, an investigation on the novelistic character of the episode of Su- sanna’s trial plot reveals that “In spite of their diversity the Susanna stories EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION XI agree on a crucial statement; a complete orchard of different trees has passed under review here, brought up as silent witnesses of Susanna’s crime, but they all evidenced the same thing: how the name of a tree could make the difference between life and death.” The next category, “Echoes of Apuleius’ Metamorphosis in Art and Lite- rature”, is comprised of five essays unified by their focus on Apuleius’ novel and its Nachleben during the Late Antiquity, Middle Ages and the Renais- sance. With Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii we are drawn away from the strict field of the ancient novel. In fact, the fictional setting is one among many other genres or sub-genres, such as fabula, epic poetry, drama, didactic prose, and religious poetry, that were remarkably explored by Martianus Capella’s matchless literary competence. De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii is the story of a young mortal, Philology, whom the God Mercury decides to marry. A reader that would be eager to find the usual romantic events would be inevitably disappointed, insofar as the love story remains peripheral. The novel is but a generic component of a work which is regarded by the author himself as an “I don’t know what.” In a pa- per entitled “Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii or the Subversion of the Latin Novel”, Beatrice Bakhouche dissects the novelistic texture and the highly cryptic construction of the work to illuminate the rela- tionship that the Wedding maintains with its Latin models and, specifically, with Apuleius’ Golden Ass. In this respect, three peculiarities stand out. First, “The plot of the Wedding could be compared with the story of Eros and Psyche in the Golden Ass, but with a kind of reversal, since the young Psyche is considered to be a goddess and, because of this, she cannot find a husband.” Second, “Apuleius frames the story of the two young people with- in the revenge of Venus who sees her worship neglected due to the amazing beauty of Psyche, whereas the young couple in the Wedding meet no opposi- tion.” Third, by employing a great variety of topics and levels of language and style, De Nuptiis, as Apuleius’ novel, stands for an “aesthetics of hybri- dization.” Moreover, in many aspects, the Wedding incorporates the codes of the novelistic genre (e.g., the polyphony of authorial voice, several levels of narrative, the intertextual dimension). Nevertheless, Martianus’ cunning games of mirrors in which his work refracts the numerical harmony of the universe and the author reflects his heroine (Philology), confirming himself worthy of the immortality acquired by knowledge and eloquence, confirms the pedagogic aim of Martianus Capella’s work: a high level of knowledge (sapientia) is accessible to everyone, provided it is preceded by study and hard work. XII EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION In an essay entitled “Apuleius, Beroaldo and the Development of the (Early) Modern Classical Commentary”, Gerald Sandy addresses the issue of the place of Filippo Beroaldo’s commentary (1500) on Apuleius’ Golden Ass in the historical development of early modern and modern classical com- mentaries and simultaneously attempts to isolate some of the features that contributed to its success in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Filippo Beroaldo (1453-1505) was a popular professor of rhetoric at the University of Bologna and, as Sandy stresses, “One of his remarkable achievements was to produce publications that simultaneously met the demands of scholars (docti), the educated public (studiosi) and students (scholastici)”. Sandy also adds that Beroaldo’s success depended on his astute understanding of the needs of his students and readers. Details that at first glance might appear to be extraneous to his explanation of an issue usually have relevance to it. Moreover, he states exactly what the relevance is, instead of leaving it to the reader to infer it from a list of presumably germane but undifferentiated cita- tions of ancient authorities. Since most of the students at the University of Bologna were pursuing legal studies, Beroaldo repeatedly elucidates Roman legal terms and practices, frequently