Playing the Man: Performing Masculinities in the Ancient Greek Novel PDF
Preview Playing the Man: Performing Masculinities in the Ancient Greek Novel
OXFORD STUDIES IN CLASSICAL LITERATURE AND GENDER THEORY General Editors DAVID KONSTAN ALISON SHARROCK Oxford Studies in Classical Literature and Gender Theory publishes substantialworksoffeministliteraryresearch,whichofferagender- sensitive perspective across the whole range of Classical literature. ThefieldisdelimitedchronologicallybyHomerandAugustine,and culturallybytheGreekandLatinlanguages.Withintheseparameters, theserieswelcomesstudiesofanygenre. Playing the Man Performing Masculinities in the Ancient Greek Novel MERIEL JONES 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries #MerielJones2012 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2012 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable ISBN 978–0–19–957008–9 PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby MPGBooksGroup,BodminandKing’sLynn LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork. This book is dedicated to Amy, for taking afternoon naps so reliably and for going to bed at 7pm every evening, almost always without complaint; and to my dad, who would have been proud. This page intentionally left blank Preface Thisbookbeganasanideaforadoctoralthesisaboutwomeninthe ancientGreeknovels.Itdidn’tstaythatwayforlong.Throughoutmy undergraduateyearsIwasinterested,inarathervagueandimmature way, in the representations of gender (and especially of women) in ancientliterature.Returningtouniversitysomeyearslatertopursue graduate study, I had already decided that I wanted to write a thesis about women in Greek fiction. I was told in no uncertain terms, however,thatinthesixyearsthathadelapsedbetweenmygraduation and my return to study, women had ‘been done’, and that my best courseofactionwouldbeto‘domen’.Thepersonwhogavemethis advice was half-right: while I suspected that there was plenty more that could be written about the Greek (and Roman) novels’ female characters (and plenty has been written since and will be written yet), doing men was indeed all the rage, but there was a largeGreek-novel-shapedholeinmasculinitiesresearch—aholethat thisbookseeksnowtoaddress. Althoughmasculinitymayhavebeenmysecondchoice,innoway wasitasecondaryone.ThefactthatIhadbeenforciblydivertedfrom my initial course soon retreated from the forefront of my mind, as Irealizedjusthowmuchexciting,anduntapped,materialwasoffered bythemenoftheGreeknovelstothescholarinterestedingenderof any kind. But women have an important place in this book none- theless. Giventhatdiscourses ofgendertendtorest ona framework ofalterity(masculinitydefinesitselfinoppositiontofemininity,and vice versa), a study of men and masculinity must, to some extent, considerwomenandfemininity.Atleastinpart,then,Igotmywish towriteaboutwomenintheGreeknovels,sothereaderinterestedin thestudyofwomen,andespeciallyinwomen’spossessionof‘manly’ virtues, will find something of use here, I hope. The primary aim of thebookistoelucidatethegenderideologiesatplayinthecreationof the male characters of five Greek novels. Those ideologies I have grouped under the rubric of the ‘performance of gender’, drawing on notions which belong ostensibly to modern Gender Studies and Sociology, but which are in fact very much at home in the classical world. I am interested in what drives the novels’ men to behave as viii Preface they do, and, concomitantly, in what drove their (male) authors to writethemastheydid. Manypeoplehavehadahandinthisbookinonewayoranother. Karla Vickers and Pat Scott, the teachers who introduced me to Classical Studies and Latin at school, set me on the road that has ledhere,andinspiredinmeanenduringloveofthesubject(notwith- standing Cicero and Tacitus). My school did not offer Greek, so I mustthankChrisCollardforafascinating(ifeccentricandlightning- paced) introduction to that language at Swansea University. I first encounteredtheGreekandRomannovelsasanundergraduate,andit wasJohnMorgan’steachingthatmademewanttoreturntoSwansea as a postgraduate; he supervised the thesis from which the book derives,andhasmyeternalgratitudeforhoursofstimulatingdiscus- sion,albeitnotallofit‘on-topic’;hisestablishmentofKYKNOS,the ancient narrative research centre, created an atmosphere of convivi- ality which undoubtedly helped to keep the thesis going when it threatened to burn itself out. The AHRC funded that thesis, as well astheMAbeforeit;withouttheirsupportIcouldnothavereturned touniversity,andthisbookwouldneverhavecomeintobeing.Imust thank my former colleagues at the University of Wales Lampeter (2006–8), including Ian Repath and Mirjam Plantinga, for their patience and tolerance of my long absences, especially during the summer of 2007 when the thesis was in its final stages. Ewen Bowie and Ian Repath made many helpful comments which have found their way into the book, and Ian also kindly showed me as- yet-unpublished work. My contemporaries at Swansea, Koen De Temmerman, Sarah Maguire, Saiichiro Nakatani, Loreto Nuñez, and Maria Elpiniki Oikonomou made 2002–7 a very exciting time, and well-established academics Ceri Davies, Ken Dowden, David Konstan, Alan Lloyd, Daniel Ogden, Costas Panayotakis, and Peter Parsonshavebeengenerousenoughtosendmetheirwork,orsimply to offer valuable encouragement. Elements of Chapters 1 and 2 also appear in Ancient Narrative (Jones 2007 and forthcoming a); those involved in their publication, and in the conferences at which they werepresented,havehelpedtoimprovethem.MyserieseditorAlison Sharrock has offered detailed and incisive comments which have clarified my thinking and have ultimately made a better book; for thatImustalsothanktheanonymousreadersofthethesisIoriginally senttoOxfordUniversityPress.HilaryO’Sheahasbeenkindenough to understand that having a baby can rather delay the delivery of Preface ix a manuscript. Thanks to my mother, and to my ‘father-in-law’, for moral (and occasional financial) support. And last but by no means least,thankstoChrisAndertonfortoleratingmymusingsandkeep- ing our lovely but highly energetic toddler out of the house for an extrahournowandthen. MerielJones August2011
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