Repath, Ian Douglas (2001) Some uses of Plato in Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Cleitophon. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explore the relationship between Achilles Tatius' novel
Leucippe and Cleitophon and the Platonic corpus. I have searched for Platonic
allusions of various natures and purposes and grouped them into thematic chapters. I
have also compared instances of similar uses of Plato in contemporary authors in
order to classify both the individual cases and the place of Achilles Tatius' novel in its
literary environment, including the intended readership.
In my introduction I have argued that through the combination in his works of
philosophy and literary excellence Plato was an extremely important figure to the
Greeks of the second sophistic. However, despite the increasingly influential opinion
that Greek novel readership was not dissimilar to that of other works, the possibility
that the Greek novelists used Plato in a more than cosmetic fashion has been relatively
neglected. The uses of Plato on which I have concentrated are the employment of
Platonic names as allusions to their namesakes; Platonic narrative technique as the
model for the dialogue form and open-endedness of Leucippe and Cleitophon with
the integration of this technique into the broader question of the discrepancies
between the beginning and the end; the allusion to a particularly famous passage of
the Phaedrus in the name of the heroine; the repeated allusions to the Phaedran flow
of beauty, their purposes and the light they shed on the characterisation of Cleitophon;
and the Phaedran scene-setting, indulged in by many other writers, which Achilles
Tatius uses in two significant passages.
The conclusions I have reached are that Achilles Tatius uses Plato far more
extensively and imaginatively than hitherto realised; that such an intimate engagement
can shed light on other issues, such as psychological characterisation and the question
of humour; that Achilles Tatius wrote something of an "anti-Platonic" novel; and that
his work displays many similarities with other works whose sophistication is less in
doubt.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) P Language and Literature > PA Classical philology P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Achilles Tatius -- Criticism and interpretation, Achilles Tatius. Leucippe and Clitophon, Plato, Love stories, Greek, Greek fiction -- History and criticism., Criticism and interpretation., Plato -- Criticism and interpretation, Plato -- Influence, Greek literature -- History and criticism
Official Date:	October 2001
Dates:	Date Event October 2001 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Classics and Ancient History
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Swain, Simon
Extent:	x, 323 leaves
Language:	eng

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