Reading Fiction with Lucian: Fakes, Freaks and Hyperreality

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Reading Fiction with Lucian: Fakes, Freaks and Hyperreality
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Karen ni Mheallaigh
SeriesGreek Culture in the Roman World
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:317
Dimensions(mm): Height 230,Width 153
Category/GenreLiterary theory
Literary studies - classical, early and medieval
ISBN/Barcode 9781107437784
ClassificationsDewey:888.0109
Audience
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 8 November 2018
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

This book offers a captivating new interpretation of Lucian as a fictional theorist and writer to stand alongside the novelists of the day, bringing to bear on his works a whole new set of reading strategies. It argues that the aesthetic and cultural issues Lucian faced, in a world of mimesis and replication, were akin to those found in postmodern contexts: the ubiquity of the fake, the erasure of origins, the focus on the freakish and weird at the expense of the traditional. In addition to exploring the texture of Lucian's own writing, Dr ni Mheallaigh uses Lucian as a focal point through which to examine other fictional texts of the period, including Antonius Diogenes' The Incredible Things Beyond Thule, Dictys' Journal of the Trojan War and Ptolemy Chennus' Novel History, and reveals the importance of fiction's engagement with its contemporary culture of writing, entertainment and wonder.

Author Biography

Karen ni Mheallaigh is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on the postclassical literary cultures of the Hellenistic and Romano-Greek worlds, especially ancient fiction.