The concept of dialogue as a genre in Lucian of Samosata: a study and translation of The Double Accusation

• Grant number: 13/18992-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Literatures
• Principal researcher: Marcos Martinho dos Santos
• Grantee: Fernando Luis Schirr
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Twice Accused is a dialogue which plays a leading role in understanding the characteristics of the Lucianic logos. As we may infer from the work`s title and its disposition, it seems the author strives to discuss some aspects of his oeuvre and adjudge his literary creation, the comic dialogue. The work is divided in three parts: a prologue on Mount Olympus (ch. 1-7), whereupon Zeus sends Hermes and Justice to Athens, in order to decree a judicial court; a transition scene, where both gods dialogue about philosophers mostly and talk to Pan after having arrived; and, at last, a preparation scene and the processes' judgment (ch. 12-15), wherein after a series of speeches for the prosecution and defense (Drunkenness x Academy, Stoa x Pleasure/Epicurus, Lust x Virtue, Stool x Diogenes, Painting x Pirron) Lucian defends himself from two accusations. Rhetoric, his lawful spouse, charges him of mistreatment for having abandoned her for his lover, Dialogue, who in his case charges Lucian of assault for not having observed his patterns. Apart from being a fine example of the Lucianic logos because of its polimorphic character and blending of genres, this text is also where Lucian works more closely with the innovations made upon the dialogic genre. In this judicial context, on one hand, the characteristics of the dialogic genre are set up against to those of rhetoric, as is the case with Platonic dialogue; on the other hand, the characteristics of the comic dialogue are outlined by means of opposition to those of the philosophical dialogue. In this project, we present a translation of the text accompanied by explanatory notes, which aim to clarify the literary allusions, historical references and employment of rhetorical devices. As regards the translation, having taken into account the limits of a Portuguese version of the Greek text, we aim to reproduce the stylistic effects of the original. As an introduction, we present a survey divided in two sections. In the first chapter, based on thoughts from ancient authors (Lucian, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes Laertius, Cicero) as well as from modern researchers (HIRZEL: 1895; BOMPAIRE: 1956; BRAUN: 2004; CHIRON: 2003), we plan to investigate the notion of dialogic genre presented by Lucian and how it is set up in opposition to rhetoric. In this text, whilst Dialogue has Plato as his model, presenting himself as a bearded elder, son of Philosophy, characterized by a series of questions and answers, by mikrology, by a small public and by his approach to philosophical themes; Rhetoric takes Demosthenes as her model, presenting herself now as loyal wife, now as maiden, characterized by a continuous discourse (whereas her addressee is merely a listener), by makrology, by her copious auditory and her connection to civic matters. In the second chapter, our purpose is to investigate the differences between both dialogical practices and treat particular characteristics of the Lucianic dialogue, fashioned after the interpolation of elements whose qualities are distinct from the philosophic dialogue: a manner of expression (úö¼¼±), a literary genre (2±¼²¿Â), a philosophical school (ºÅ½¹Ã¼ÌÂ), two exponents of Ancient Comedy (Aristophanes and Eupolis), and Menippus, all of those connected to derisory laughter. To do so, we part from Lucian's own reflections, present not only in Twice Accused, but also in other works of his: Zeuxis or Antiochus, Amber or The Swans, A Literary Prometheus, The Dead Come to Life or The Fisherman.