Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I
- 1 Plot
- 2 Time
- 3 Narrative and speech
- 4 Focalisation
- 5 Effects on the reader
- 6 Gaps and omissions
- 7 Poetic licence
- 8 Authentication
- 9 Style
- 10 Allusions, hints, hidden meanings
- 11 Characters
- 12 Mythography
- PART II
- Epilogue
- Glossary of Greek terms
- Editions of scholia
- Other abbreviations
- Bibliography
- Thematic index
- Index locorum
5 - Effects on the reader
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I
- 1 Plot
- 2 Time
- 3 Narrative and speech
- 4 Focalisation
- 5 Effects on the reader
- 6 Gaps and omissions
- 7 Poetic licence
- 8 Authentication
- 9 Style
- 10 Allusions, hints, hidden meanings
- 11 Characters
- 12 Mythography
- PART II
- Epilogue
- Glossary of Greek terms
- Editions of scholia
- Other abbreviations
- Bibliography
- Thematic index
- Index locorum
Summary
As a general rule, ancient literary critics focus their attention on the poet as the one who gives the text its particular shape and as such is in control of things. Nevertheless, they fully recognise that the poet is not operating in isolation, but directs his poem to a more or less specific addressee. Consequently, the scholia also regularly discuss the ways in which the poet communicates with the reader. Their arguments concentrate on the effects which the poet intends to bring about in the reader and how this is done.
A good starting-point is a longer scholion on Odysseus' long narrative in Odyssey 9–12 (the so-called Apologues). It combines several points which recur elsewhere and therefore can give a first overview of what will later be examined in detail:
ὅσα αὔξει τὴν προσοχήν, προσδοκίαν ἐμποιῶν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τεχνικὸν ὡς ἐν προοιμίῳ· δεῖ γὰρ παρὰ τῶν ἀκουόντων ἑαυτῷ μὲν εὔνοιαν ἐπισπᾶσθαι, τῷ δὲ λόγῳ προσοχήν, ἵνα τὸν μὲν λέγοντα ἀποδέξωνται, τῶν δὲ πραγμάτων ἐπιθυμήσωσι τὰ λεγόμενα μαθεῖν [Ruijgh (p.c.), καὶ μάθωσιν cod.], – ὅπερ δι᾿ ὅλου κατώρθωκεν ᾿Οδυσσεὺς ἑαυτὸν μὲν ἐπαινέσας, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος καὶ τὴν καινότητα τῶν πραγμάτων ἐνδειξάμενος δηλοῖ τὴν προαίρεσιν καὶ πόθεν παραγίνεται καὶ τί βούλεται –, εἶθ᾿ οὕτως καὶ τὰ μείζονος διηγήσεως ἄρξηται “Ἰλιόθεν με Φέρων”
[Od. 9.39]. (schol. T Od. 9.14)- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Ancient Critic at WorkTerms and Concepts of Literary Criticism in Greek Scholia, pp. 135 - 156Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009