In view of the epic: the construction of the hero in the narratives of Xenophon

• Grant number: 12/11106-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Maria Celeste Consolin Dezotti
• Grantee: Emerson Cerdas
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The historical narratives of Xenophon (fourth century BC) - Anabasis, Hellenica, Agesilas and Cyropaedia - present a development of both thematic and writing when compared to historical works of his predecessors, Herodotus and Thucydides. This difference, however, has not been appreciated by scholars of classical literature that, in most cases, consider this innovation as a major defect in the work of Xenophon. We will seek, in this thesis, which consists, in fact, this change of attitude by Xenophon, focusing on a new role of fiction within the framework of historical narrative. Through metalinguistic comments, we demonstrate how this new role of fiction in the work of Xenophon is the product of a conscious effort of the writer Athenian. Moreover, this fiction is linked to a resumption of the practice of Homeric epic of values, values that are not only moral and ethical, but also aesthetic and literary. From the intertextuality, we will seek to demonstrate how Xenophon fictionalizes the historical data, repeating in a new context the narratives of Homer. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

CERDAS, Emerson. The History according to Xenophon: historiography and uses of past. 2016. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências e Letras. Araraquara Araraquara.