Poetic programs and narrative strategies in the opening images of Byzantine novels Cover Image

Poétikai programok és narratív stratégiák a bizánci regények nyitóképeiben
Poetic programs and narrative strategies in the opening images of Byzantine novels

Author(s): Katalin Delbó
Subject(s): Cultural history, Ancient World
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: Komnenian period; Byzantine novel; hellenistic romance; literary imitation; intertextuality; narrative opening;

Summary/Abstract: The twelfth-century Byzantine novels marked the revival and reconfiguration of the Hellenistic love romance genre, adapting it to the literary tastes and rhetorical norms of the Komnenian era. Four novels have survived from this period, written by Theodoros Prodromos, Niketas Eugenianos, Eustathios Makrembolites, and Konstantinos Manasses. The opening sections of these works merit particular attention for two reasons: first, because the Byzantine authors use them to clearly position their texts within the canon of Greek literature; and second, because they exemplify the playful literary imitation that weaves a complex network of relations between ancient and Byzantine texts. Through a structural and intertextual analysis of these sections, the present study demonstrates how the beginning of the narrative becomes a crucial space for generic and poetic self-definition.

  • Issue Year: 70/2026
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 41-52
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Hungarian
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