Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes
-
Charles Delattre
Abstract
I will focus on paradoxographic descriptions in order to define these as a literary construct in which the persona of the author - the way he asserts himself as a provider of information - is at least as important as the extraordinary nature of what he describes. I will furthermore deny that “marvelous” (thaumaston) or “strange” (paradoxon) can be understood directly as a theme, topic or fact. In my view, the paradoxographic quality of the text will be the result of how the description is accomplished, not of what is described. Using the special case of sources and fountains, we will see how their peculiarities, as well as their implication in some rituals, create a topos that is both referential (it is precisely located in some part of the world) and rhetorical (it obeys certain features that cannot be explained by referentiality). The author of a paradoxographic text will be prominent in this analysis: he is the one who creates the conditions under which we are supposed to react, as we say, “this is indeed paradoxon.”
Abstract
I will focus on paradoxographic descriptions in order to define these as a literary construct in which the persona of the author - the way he asserts himself as a provider of information - is at least as important as the extraordinary nature of what he describes. I will furthermore deny that “marvelous” (thaumaston) or “strange” (paradoxon) can be understood directly as a theme, topic or fact. In my view, the paradoxographic quality of the text will be the result of how the description is accomplished, not of what is described. Using the special case of sources and fountains, we will see how their peculiarities, as well as their implication in some rituals, create a topos that is both referential (it is precisely located in some part of the world) and rhetorical (it obeys certain features that cannot be explained by referentiality). The author of a paradoxographic text will be prominent in this analysis: he is the one who creates the conditions under which we are supposed to react, as we say, “this is indeed paradoxon.”
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
