_________________________________________________________________________Swansea University E-Theses Playing the man: Performing masculinities in the Greek novel. Jones, Meriel How to cite: _________________________________________________________________________ Jones, Meriel (2007) Playing the man: Performing masculinities in the Greek novel.. thesis, Swansea University. http://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa42521 Use policy: _________________________________________________________________________ This item is brought to you by Swansea University. Any person downloading material is agreeing to abide by the terms of the repository licence: copies of full text items may be used or reproduced in any format or medium, without prior permission for personal research or study, educational or non-commercial purposes only. The copyright for any work remains with the original author unless otherwise specified. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder. Permission for multiple reproductions should be obtained from the original author. Authors are personally responsible for adhering to copyright and publisher restrictions when uploading content to the repository. Please link to the metadata record in the Swansea University repository, Cronfa (link given in the citation reference above.) http://www.swansea.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/ris-support/ Playing the Man: Performing Masculinities in the Greek Novel Meriel Jones Submitted to the University o f Wales in fulfilment o f the requirements for the degree o f Doctor ofPhilosophy. Swansea University 2007 ProQuest Number: 10805270 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10805270 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract This study offers a literary analysis of the discourses of masculinity represented in the five extant complete ancient Greek novels, Chariton’s Chaereas and Callirhoe, Xenophon of Ephesus’ Ephesiaca, Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe and Cleitophon, Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe, and Heliodorus’ Aethiopica. Its methodology draws on the work of sociological theorists such as Erving Goffinan and Judith Butler. Goffman argued that identity is constituted by the performance of roles, through which we project idealised versions of ourselves. Butler applied the theory of performance to gender, arguing that gender is constituted by repeated performance, but that a full and wholly successful performance can never quite be achieved, resulting in a disparity between cultural ideals and lived realities. The study begins from the premise that such modem theories are appropriate for use in the analysis of imperial texts because those texts themselves demonstrate a contemporary fascination with notions of performance, and especially the performance of masculinity. Chapter 1 examines the concept of paideia, intellectual and behavioural ‘culture’, which was probably the most important signifier of Greek masculinity in the intensely competitive world of the elite in the Second Sophistic. Here, the disparity between the ideals and the realities of masculinity is particularly striking. Chapter 2 explores andreia , a complex notion often inadequately translated as ‘courage’ or ‘manliness’. We see that andreia operates symbiotically with paideia, and that although it is an attribute that may be evident in a man’s appearance, it must nonetheless be displayed in action. Chapter 3 investigates how masculinity may be constituted or threatened by a man’s sexual behaviour. It questions whether sexual identity in the novels is fixed or fluid, and explores the texts’ negotiation of the Graeco-Roman notion of effeminacy. The thesis argues that despite their exclusion from their texts of large-scale contemporary issues such as Roman domination and the rise of Christianity, and although they are influenced by classical gender ideals, the authors of the Greek novels in fact engage in dynamic and sometimes surprising ways with markedly contemporary notions of performative masculinity. iii Declarations and Statements DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed........................... 7............... (Meriel Jones) Date /.^..! ................................... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed (Meriel Jones) Date ....................................... STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (Meriel Jones) Date .................................. iv Contents Abstract ii Declarations and Statements iii Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 Why masculinity? 1 Defining masculinity 4 Discourse, identity, and performance 6 Nature and culture 13 Publ ic and private 14 Masculinity in the Greek novels: some problems 15 /. Date o f composition versus dramatic date 15 ii. Culture and the passage o f time 18 iii. The influence o f Christianity 20 iv. The effect o f ‘genre ’ and what remains o f it 23 The structure and content o f the study 24 A note on the term ‘Second Sophistic ’ 26 A note on translations 26 Chapter 1: Paideia 27 Introduction 27 History and social context 28 z. Classical paideia 29 ii. Hellenistic paideia 31 iii. Second Sophistic paideia 33 The gendering o f paideia 3 8 Female paideia in the novels 40 The age and aspect o f the pepaideumenos 45 The pepaideumenos and kingship 50 The public display o paideia: f the symposium 53 The self as audience 5 7 The display o f paideia before family and superiors 61 The display o f words 68 Paideia as erotic education 72 Paideia and anger 75 Chapter summary 84 Chapter 2: Andreia 87 Introduction 87 Defining and contextualising andreia 89 /. Andreia and warfare 90 ii. Andreia and athletics 92 iii. Andreia and other virtues 95 iv. Andreia as metaphor 98 The gendering o f andreia 99 Female andreia 100 Andreia by allusion and appearance 110 Andreia and deilia 115 Suicidal andreia 122 Andreia and autonomy 126 Wise andreia 131 Erotic andreia 140 The lover as soldier and athlete 146 Chapter summary 157 Chapter 3: Sexual Identity 159 Introduction 159 i. Homosexuality problematised 160 ii. The paederastic ideal 164 iii. Effeminacy 168 Resisting the paederastic ideal? 170 Performing sexual identities 185 Masculinity in peril 197 The faces o f effeminacy: the moichos and the kinaidos 213 vi Becoming the woman 221 Chapter summary 229 Conclusion 233 Bibliography 241 Acknowledgements First and foremost I want to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor John Morgan, for unfailing support and expert advice even through difficult times: o 5e k u k v o c avsSopE KapTTTaTO xa,Pwv- My gratitude also goes to my second supervisor, Professor Ceri Davies, and to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, without whose funding this thesis would not exist. My colleagues in the Department of Classics at the University of Wales Lampeter have been good enough to understand the pressures of finishing a thesis in the first year of an academic job; they were especially understanding during the summer months of 2007. The following people have been kind enough to let me have sight of as yet unpublished work, or simply to say encouraging things: Ken Dowden and Alan Lloyd have been ever-supportive and kept the booze flowing at conferences or on nights out with the Swansea cygnets, and Daniel Ogden has continued to offer support from Exeter; David Konstan has sent me two unpublished articles, and although we have not yet met in person, he has been generous with his encouragement by e-mail; Costas Panayotakis has been similarly supportive; and Ian Repath has kindly lent me a copy of the manuscript of his forthcoming book. The members of the KYKNOS kyklos have made the last few years a lot of fun: Gill Bazovsky (for ‘fig’ hysteria), Koen De Temmerman (for the neologisms ‘dillfish’ and ‘buggstress’), Phil Etherington (for the ‘Regina’ line, which still makes me laugh), Fritz-Gregor Herrmann (for having a surprising tolerance for poor-quality ‘German’ jokes), Sarah Maguire (sui generis), Saiichiro Nakatani (for not being afraid to enjoy the British way of life, even at the expense of his liver), Maria Loreto Nuflez (for being annoyingly unteachable in the matter of obscene English slang), and Maria-Elpiniki Oikonomou (for being ‘busy with her vegetables’). These people have de-stressed me: Lisa Germano, Aimee Mann, Willy Porter, Bettie Serveert, Joseph Arthur, Fiona Apple, Iron & Wine, PJ Harvey, Icehouse, Cat Power, Regina Spektor, Elvis, Mew, Heather Nova, A-ha, Kristin Hersh, Ernest & Julio Gallo, Tori Amos, Elton