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Leven, liefde en dood : zelfmoord, vermeende dood, huwelijk en dood : motieven in antieke romans

(1993) Wesseling, Berber

Summary
Desperate people wanting to commit suicide in the tombs of their beloveds, women waking up
in their graves after the funeral, brides sacrified to Hades, reawakenings of the dead and descents
into the realm of death – these are some examples of grisly, weird and tragical events which are
the order of the day in the ancient novels. The Greek novels in particular, when read superficially
give the impression that such motifs were used in a rather stereotype way. Consequently the
general opinion has until recently been that if you know one, you know them all. These novels
passed as populair readingmatter, meant for sentimental, naive people with little education, such
as youngsters and women. As a result of this negative appreciation, scholars have shown very
little interest in Greek novels, and have hardly had an eye for the differences between them.
Moreover, specialists regarded all of Greek literature from later periods, especially after the
beginning of the Christian era, as the decline of classical literature, as second rate. For that reason
it was given little attention and appreciation. Although these prejudices have not disappeared
yet, the Greek novels have found a certain revaluation during the last two decads, due to the
great interest literary studies of today have shown in the novel in general, and in narrative art in
particular.
The only two Latin novels that have come down to us – the Satyrica by Petronius and
the Golden Ass by Apuleius – may differ from the Greek novels in many ways, yet there are
also many resemblances. The similarities can be found in the narrative motifs in particular.
Which similarities and differences in the use of motifs can be found in these novels? What is the
author’s intention in using these motifs? And, in relation to this, what links are there with the
historical truth? These are the central questions in this intertextual study. The emphasis will be
on the Golden Ass, because the main purpose of this book is to contribute to the scholarship on
Apuleius.
The first chapter justifies the terminology, the use of comparing motifs, and the choice
of the three motifs: suicide, presumed (=apparent) death, and marriage and death. After that the
scope of the phenomenon ‘ancient novel’ is indicated. Finally the method used to interpret the
relevant passages is explained. Interpretation should be read as a reconstruction of the possible
textinterpretations the ancient readers had of these novels.
However, who these readers were is not automatically clear. The second chapter will
therefore deal with this problem, and will suggest a profile of the presumed readers. Because
concrete responses of readers are very scanty, this typology must mainly be based on textimmanent
indications, completed with sociological information about education, literacy, and the possession
of books in the classical world in this particular period. The conclusion drawn from all this is
that both the Greek and the Latin authors wrote especially for their kindred spirits, belonging
to the educated higher classes, people who were able to acknowledge and appreciate the artistic
pretentions and merits of the novels. These novels were not intended for mass consumption.
Besides, this phenomenon did not exist in classical times as a reasonable level of literacy was not
common, but was the privilege of a rather small group consisting mainly of men from wealthy
families.
Chapters three, four and five deal with the three motifs respectively (suicide in chapter
three, presumed death in chapter four, marriage and death in chapter five). It is argued that in
spite of the many parallels found in the texts, the motifs are not stereotype and often repeated
structures. The situations consist of ever-changing combinations of various elements and motifs,
which show the author’s striving towards originality. Especially in the novel by Apuleius the
great variety is striking.
In all the novels suicide and presumed death are parts of the main motif. In the Greek
novels, with the exception of the Onos, it is love combined with adventure, in the Satyrica it is
adventure, in the Onos and the Golden Ass it is the experiences of Lucius. Apuleius’ novel is a
complex book structured as a frame story, with digressions and inner tales. The motifs in these
digressions and inner tales turn out to be closely linked with the main motif of the frame story. In
this novel suicide and presumed death are much more connected with death and the underworld
than they are in the Greek novels. Therefore the world created in Apuleius’ novel is much more
gloomy than in the Greek novels. Another difference is that apart from the literal meaning of the
two motifs in Apuleius as determined by the context, the reader can also attribute a symbolical
meaning to these motifs, which is related to the religious ending of the novel, i.e. the initiation of
Lucius in the mysteries of Isis.
In the Greek novels the passages discussed in relation to marriage and death are nothing
but stock formulas, topoi, meant to emphasize the tragedy of the situations. In Apuleius, on the
other hand, they are not a topos, but a motif, part of the plot that is linked to the main motif of
the novel in the same way as the other two motifs are.
The way the motifs are being used is different in each novel, and varies from serious
and sentimental to ironical, comical and burlesque. Typical of the motifs is their ability to evoke
suspense and emotions in the reader. To what extent this happens depends largely on the narrator’s
point of view. Again in this respect the novels differ widely. Some novels are told, at least partly,
from a perspective of the experiencing I, and this perpective is extremely suitable to effectuate
surprise and emotions because the reader is left in the dark about the actual situation. In these
novels – it concerns those of Achilles Tatius, Petronius and Apuleius – the opposition between
appearance and reality forms an important theme, and the motifs suicide and apparent death
contribute greatly to the realisation of this theme.
Intertextual links can be made with a great number of other genres. Apart from that it
is very likely that there are also relations with non-fictional texts, with myths and folklore. The
narrative material available to the authors was plentiful, and it had a long tradition, going back
as far as the Attic period.
The fact that the motifs suicide and apparent death also occur in other genres, and not only
used seriously, but also ironically, comically and in a burlesque way, makes one doubt the often
heard opinion that various authors were actually aiming at parodying their predecessors’ use of
motifs.With reference to this problem the Appendix discusses some recent models of parody and
justifies the conception of parody used in this study.
With regards to the question about the relations that exist between the motifs and the
historical truth, the following remarks are made:
_ in the novels suicide is hardly ever judged negatively, so the attitude towards suicide is
free from value judgements. This neutral attitude agrees with the attitude towards suicide
we know about from other sources. There used to be a great amount of social freedom in
this respect.
_ The three motifs can be taken as a literary reflection of contemporary ideas about death,
rebirth and immortality, ideas that took up a central position in philosophical and religious
movements of those days. Representations in art also reflected these ideas. Some passages
in the novels concerning apparent death and marriage and death can be related to these
expressions.
The question why and with what intentions the authors liked so much to use these particular
motifs can be answered as follows:
_ first of all these motifs are very suitable to evoke suspense and emotion in the reader;
_ secondly they played along with the strong interest people had at that time for paradoxical,
miraculous stories;
_ the motifs are a literary expression of basic anxieties, ideas and phantasies concerning
life, death, rebirth and immortality.
The last chapter gives a synthesis of chapters three, four and five. It can be concluded that
in classical antiquity, in spite of their common background and the many similarities, there used
to be an enormous variety of novels and related texts. The novel did not appear to be a closed
genre, with a fixed set of rules, but an open literary form. The writer was absolutely free to make
his own choices. On the other hand, objections are made against drawing far too strict borderlines
between the novels themselves and e.g. distinguishing between ideal Greek novels on the one
hand, and comic-realistic Latin novels on the other. These characterisations are debatable, based
on intrinsic arguments and recent findings of papyrus. The best description for the ancient novels
may therefore be: unity in diversity.