Plato’s Proto-Narratology: Metanarrative Reflections and Narrative Paradigms

Vasileios Liotsakis

Published by De Gruyter 2023

Plato’s Proto-Narratology

Metanarrative Reflections and Narrative Paradigms

Vasileios Liotsakis

Volume 153 in the series Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111307824

Overview
Contents

About this book

Plato’s contribution to narratology has traditionally been traced in his tripartite categorisation of narrative modes we read of in the Republic. Although other aspects of storytelling are also addressed throughout the Platonic oeuvre, such passages are treated as instantaneous flares of metanarrative speculation on Plato’s part and do not seem to contribute to the reconstruction of his ‘theory of narrative’. Vasileios Liotsakis challenges this view and argues that the Statesman, the Timaeus/Critias and the Laws reveal that Plato had consolidated in his mind and compositionally put into effect one systematic mode in which to express his thoughts on narratives. In these dialogues Liotsakis recognizes the birth of a proto-narratology which differs in many respects from what we today expect from a narratological handbook, but still demonstrates two key-features of narratology: (a) a conscious focus on certain aspects of narrativity which are vastly discussed by narratologists and pertain to the structuring and reception of narratives; and (b) a schematised mode of interaction between metanarrative reflections and textual bodies which serve as the paradigms through which to explore the interpretive potential of these reflections.

Author / Editor information

Vasileios Liotsakis, Department of Philology, University of the Peloponnese, Kalamata, Greece.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	XI
1 The Statesman: A Formalist Approach to Narrative Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Timaeus and Critias: Plato’s ‘Proto-Theory’ of Fictional Worlds Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
3 The Laws: Formalism and Reception Theory Intermingled Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
4 General Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Index Nominum et Rerum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Index Locorum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Classicists, narratologists, literary studies scholars, theorists of narrative, philosophers
Pages
- Front matter: 28
- Main content: 237
Keywords: Plato; theory of narrative; narratology; philosophy

eBook

Published: September 18, 2023
ISBN: 9783111307824

Hardcover

Published: September 18, 2023
ISBN: 9783111307107