Unruly eloquence : Lucian and the comedy of traditions PDF
Preview Unruly eloquence : Lucian and the comedy of traditions
Revealing Antiquity • 2 · G. W. Bowersock, General Editor Unruly Eloquence Lucían and the Comedy of Traditions R. BRACHT BRANHAM HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 1989 Copyright © 1989 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 1098765432 ι This book is printed on acid-free paper, and its binding materials have been chosen for strength and durability. Designed by Joyce C. Weston Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Branham, Robert Bracht. Unruly eloquence: Lucían and the comedy of traditions / R. Bracht Branham. p. cm. —(Revealing antiquity : 2) Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-674-93035-5 (alk. paper) i. Lucian, of Samosata—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Satire, Greek—History and criticism. 3. Comic, The, in literature. 4. Sophists (Greek philosophy) in literature. I. Title. II. Series. PA4236.B73 1989 88-24297 887'.01—dci9 CIP ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Any book is a collaborative effort, and this one is certainly no exception. It was begun in Berkeley in 1981 and finished at the Center for Hellenic Studies, in Washington, D.C., in 1987. While writing it I received indispensable help from several interlocutors, some of whom read and commented on the entire typescript more than once. I owe special thanks to W. S. Anderson, G. W. Bower- sock, Peter Brown, Ann Cumming, John Dillon, Anthony Edwards, Daniel Kinney, David Konstan, Mark Griffith, A. A. Long, Michael Nagler, Robert Rodgers, B. P. Reardon, Kathleen Ries, Jon Stewart, Zeph Stewart, and Jack Winkler for their comments; and to Maxwell Anderson, John R. Clarke, and Bonna Wescoat for their help in finding appropriate illustrations. Finally, I wish to express my grat- itude to Emory University and the Center for Hellenic Studies for giving me the opportunity to complete my work in the locus amoenus provided by the Center. Portions of this book have been previously published in other forms: the third part of Chapter 1 appeared as "Introducing a Soph- ist: Lucian's Prologues," Transactions of the American Philological Asso- ciation 115 (1985) 237-243; an earlier version of Chapter 4 was published as "The Comic as Critic: Revenging Epicurus," Classical Antiquity 3.2 (1984) 143—163. CONTENTS Introduction / Chapter ι. The Rhetoric of Laughter ç Chapter 2. Agonistic Humors: Lucian and Plato 6$ Chapter 3. Aging Deities: Lucian's Olympus 125 Chapter 4. Sudden Glory: The Revenge of Epicurus Conclusion: Potter or Prometheus? 211 A bbreviations 218 Notes 219 Selected Bibliography 271 Index 2y$ Humor ist keine Stimmung, sondern eine Weltanschauung. —Wittgenstein, Vermischte Bemerkungen (1948) The text of Lucian is cited from Luciani Opera, ed. M. D. MacLeod, vols. 1-4 (Oxford 1972-1987). In translating Lucian I have freely used (and sometimes modified) the existing versions, particu- larly those of H. W. and F. G. Fowler (Oxford 1905).
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