Description
This volume, the first ever of its kind in English, introduces and surveys Greek literature in Byzantium (330 - 1453 CE). In twenty-five chapters composed by leading specialists, The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature surveys the immense body of Greek literature produced from the fourth to the fifteenth century CE and advances a nuanced understanding of what "literature" was in Byzantium.This volume is structured in four sections. The first, "Materials, Norms, Codes," presents basic structures for understanding the history of Byzantine literature like language, manuscript book culture, theories of literature, and systems of textual memory. The second, "Forms," deals with the how Byzantine literature works: oral discourse and "text"; storytelling; rhetoric; re-writing; verse; and song. The third section ("Agents") focuses on the creators of Byzantine literature, both its producers and its recipients. The final section, entitled "Translation, Transmission, Edition," surveys the three main ways by which we access Byzantine Greek literature today: translations into other Byzantine languages during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts; and modern printed editions. The volume concludes with an essay that offers a view of the recent past--as well as the likely future--of Byzantine literary studies.
Table of Contents
List of Contributors AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsList of Figures1) What is Byzantine Literature? An IntroductionStratis PapaioannouI. Materials, Norms, Codes2) LanguageMartin Hinterberger3) Book CultureFilippo Ronconi and Stratis Papaioannou4) Theory of LiteratureStratis Papaioannou5) Biblical HermeneuticsFr. Maximos Constas6) Memory: Selection, Citation, CommonplaceCharis Messis and Stratis Papaioannou7) The Reception of Classical Literature and Ancient MythAnthony Kaldellis8) Translations I: From Other Languages into GreekI. LatinRéka ForraiII. SyriacPablo UbiernaIII. ArabicCharis Messis and Stratis PapaioannouIV. GeorgianNikoloz AleksidzeV. Neo-Latin LanguagesCarolina CupaneII. Forms9) Orality and Textuality (With an Appendix on the Byzantine Conceptions)Charis Messis and Stratis Papaioannou10) Narrative: Theory and PracticeIngela Nilsson11) Rhetorical PracticeAlexander Riehle12) Rhetorical FiguresVessela Valiavitcharska13) A Rhetorical Genre(?): The Invective (9th - 15th c.)Ioannis Polemis14) RewritingStephanos Efthymiadis15) Poetry?Floris Bernard and Kristoffel Demoen16) InscriptionsIvan Drpi?17) Metrics and Prose RhythmWolfram Hörandner and Andreas Rhoby18) Sacred SongStratis Papaioannou19) Recitation and Chant: Types of Notation, Modes of ExpressionSandra MartaniIII. Agents20) Authors (With an Excursus on Symeon Metaphrastes)Stratis Papaioannou21) Readers and their PleasuresStratis PapaioannouIV. Translation, Transmission, Edition22) Translations II: Greek Texts into Other Languages (4th - 15th c.)I. LatinRéka ForraiII. CopticArietta PapaconstantinouIII. SyriacPablo UbiernaIV. ArmenianTheo Maarten van LintV. GeorgianNikoloz AleksidzeVI. ArabicAlexander TreigerVII. SlavicSergey Ivanov and Anatolii Turilov23) Modes of Manuscript Transmission (9th - 15th c.)Inmaculada Pérez Martín24) Textual CriticismCaroline MacéPostscript25) Thoughts on the Recent Past and the Future of Byzantine Literary StudiesMargaret MullettGlossary of Rhetorical Figures [Vessela Valiavitcharska]Index of Personal Names and Titles of Anonymous Texts
