by C. Jouanno

| EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS | NOVEL, GENERAL | TWELFTH-CENTURY NOVELS | VERNACULAR NOVELS | FORTHCOMING | 

EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS

V. Digenis Akritas (Odorico).

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NOVEL, GENERAL

History of Byzantine Literature"], in P. Odorico - P.A. Agapitos (eds), Pour une "nouvelle" histoire de la littérature byzantine. Actes du colloque international philologique (Nicosie, 25-28 mai 2000) [Dossiers byzantins 1], Paris, 2002, 185-232 : in this "programming" article much space is devoted to the example of Byzantine erotic fiction ; Agapitos discusses the question of its aesthetic appreciation by modern readers and by the Byzantines themselves (interesting remarks about the manuscript tradition - e.g. about the famous Laur. Conv. Soppr. 627, and about the Oxon. Barocc. 131) ; much stress is put upon the necessity of a comparative examination of the narrative macrostructure of the Hellenistic, Comnenian, and Late Byzantine novel (examples drawn from the Achilleid and Libistros). 

V. Ruas, "O romance bizantino : autores, obras e tematicas", Arquipélago. Linguas e Literaturas 16, 1999/2000, Universidade dos Açores, 159-178 : about the revival of Greek novel in Byzantium ; the main part of the article is devoted to the 12th c. novels.

BARLAAM AND IOASAPH

A. Billault, "Une source de Barlaam et Ioasaph : les Éthiopiques d'Héliodore", BAGB 2001, 423-436. 

P. Guran, "L'auréole de l'empereur. Témoignage iconographique de la légende de Barlaam et Josaphat", in Medioevo greco. Rivista di storia e filologia bizantina 1, 2001, 161-186 : about the representation of the nimbus in the miniatures of the Life of Barlaam 's manuscripts and on the wall paintings illustrating the Barlaam legend in Serbian churches and Slavonic courts.

STEPHANITES AND ICHNELATES

D. Gutas : review of H. Condylis-Bassoukos, Stéphanitès kai Ichnélatès (1997), in BZ 95 / 1, 2002, 155-157. 

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TWELFTH-CENTURY NOVELS

GENERAL 

J.B. Burton, "Abduction and Elopement in the Byzantine Novel", GRBS 41/4, 2000, 377-409 : how Byzantine novelists have renewed the romantic theme of elopement in representing the hero's violent, non consensual abduction of the heroine ; Burton investigates the social background of this striking innovation (abduction was a point of serious contention between civil and canon law in the Byzantine world). A new evidence of the Byzantine revival as a sensitive response to problems of the time. 

P. Yannopoulos : a strange (and rather belated) review of S. MacAlister, Dreams and Suicides (1996), in Byzantion 72 / 1, 2002, 308. The author seems to have completely misunderstood the point of MacAlister's thesis (underlining how subtly the Byzantine novelists used the form of ancient novel to deal with controversial matters as dreams and suicide) and he credits MacAlister with the conclusion that Byzantine novels contain nothing new and are absolutely timeless !

EUSTATHIOS MAKREMBOLITES 

F. Conca : review of I. Nilsson, Erotic Pathos, Rhetorical Pleasure (2001), in BZ 95 / 2, 2002, 708-710. 

R.D. Dawe, "Some Erotic Suggestions. Notes on Achilles Tatius, Eustathius Macrembolites, Xenophon of Ephesus, Charito", Philologus 145, 2001, 291-311 : about Macremb., 4, 12, 3 ; 7, 11, 4 ; 8, 18, 1 ; 11, 6, 1 (p. 304). 

C. Jouanno : review of I. Nilsson, Erotic Pathos, Rhetorical Pleasure (2001), in REB 60, 2002, 258-259. 

I. Nilsson, "Static Imitation or Dynamic Transformation ? Achilles Tatius in Hysmine & Hysminias", in M. Zimmerman - S. Panayotakis - W. Keulen (eds), The Ancient Novel and Beyond, Leiden (Brill), 2003. 

-, review of M. Marcovich, De Hysmines et Hysminiae (2001), in Bryn Mawr Classical Review : see http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/

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VERNACULAR NOVELS

DIGENIS AKRITAS 

in DA and a passage of the De ceremoniis (I, 694 sq., Reiske) dealing with the baptism of Arab prisoners and their "forced" marriage to Christian girls. 

P. Odorico, L'Akrite. L'épopée byzantine de Digénis Akritas. Versions grecque et slave suivies du Chant d'Armouris, with the collaboration of J.P. Arrignon and H.A. Théologitis, ed. Anacharsis, Toulouse, 2002 : first French translation of the vernacular version of DA, the so-called Escurial-Text ; with a substantial introduction, and new translations of the Russian adaptation of the Byzantine epic (by Arrignon) and of the Armouris Song (by Theologitis). A useful volume. 

-, ""Lascia le cose fresche e candide". À propos d'un récent compte-rendu et d'un moins récent livre", Medioevo Greco 2, 2002, 101-112 : a polemic answer to Rizzo Nervo's critical review of Jeffreys' Digenis Akritis (v. infra). 

F. Rizzo Nervo : review of E. Jeffreys, Digenis Akritis (1998), in Medioevo greco 1, 2001, 236-244.

CALLIMACHOS AND CHRYSORRHOE 

C. Cupane, "Una proposta di emendamento al testo di Callimaco e Crisorroe", in A. Di Benedetto Zimbone - F. Rizzo Nervo (eds), Kaniskin. Studi in onore di Giuseppe Spadaro, Soveria Manelli, 2002, 163-166.

ACHILLEID 

A.F. van Gemert : review of O. Smith, The Byzantine Achilleid (1999), in Byzantina 22, 2001, 272-279.

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FORTHCOMING

Acta of the Conference about The Conception of Antiquity in Byzantine and Modern Greek Novel, held at Rhethymnon (November 9-10, 2001) : papers about Makrembolites, Digenis Akritas, and vernacular novels. 

Medioevo Romanzo e Orientale. Macrotesti fra Oriente e Occidente, Atti del IV Colloquio Internazionale (Vico Equense 26-29 Ottobre 2000), Messina, 2002 (delayed). 

Lieux, décors et paysages de l'ancien roman, des origines à Byzance (Tours, 24-25 octobre 2002) : papers about Digenis Akritas and vernacular novels.