Intende, Lector - Echoes of Myth, Religion and Ritual in the Ancient Novel (MythosEikonPoiesis, 6)

Representation of myth in the novel, as a poetic, narrative and aesthetic device, is one of the most illuminating issues in the area of ancient religion, for such narratives investigate in various ways fundamental problems that concern all human beings. This volume brings together twenty contributions (six of them to a Roundtable organized by Anton Bierl on myth), originally presented at the Fourth International Conference on the Ancient novel (ICAN IV) held in Lisbon in July 2008. Employing an interdisciplinary approach and putting together different methodological tools (intertextual, psychological, and anthropological), each offers a illuminating investigation of mythical discourse as presented in the text or texts under discussion. The collection as a whole demonstrates the exemplary and transgressive significance of myth and its metaphorical meaning in a genre that to some extent can be considered a modernized and secular form of myth that focuses on the quintessential question of love. Introduction 11 Roundtable Myth and the Novel 15 Myth and the Novel: Introductory Remarks and Comments on the Roundtable Discussion 17 Myth in the Novel: Some Observations 27 The Literary Myth in the Novel 34 Myths in the Novel: Gender, Violence and Power 38 Novel and Mythology – Contribution to a Round Table 46 Greek Novel and Local Myth 49 Mythical Repertoire and Its Functions in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 53 Storyline, Poetics and Religion 59 Love, Mysteries and Literary Tradition: New Experiences and Old Frames 61 The Tale of a Dream: Oneiros and Mythos in the Greek Novel 77 From Mystery to Initiation: A Mytho-Ritual Poetics of Love and Sex in the Ancient Novel – even in Apuleius’ Golden Ass? 92 From the Legend of Cupid and Psyche to the Novel of Mélusine: Myth, Novel and Twentieth Century Adaptations 110 Apuleius and Cupid and Psyche: Anthropological, Christian and Philosophical Perspectives 119 Puella Virgo: Rites of Passage in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 121 Gnostic Variations on the Tale of Cupid and Psyche 133 Apuleius and Christianity: The Novelist-Philosopher in front of a New Religion 155 Ritual, Myth and Intertextuality 185 Donkey Gone to Hell: A Katabasis Motif in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 187 Iphigenia Revisited: Heliodorus’ Aethiopica and the ‘Der Tod und das Mädchen’ Pattern 210 ‘Non humana viscera sed centies sestertium comesse’ (Petr. Sat. 141,7): Philomela and the Cannibal Heredipetae in the Crotonian Section of Petronius’ Satyricon 233 Religious Imagery, Cult, Mystery and Art 247 False Fortuna: Religious Imagery and the Painting-Gallery Episode in the Satyricon 249 The Bees of Artemis Ephesia and the Apocalyptic Scene in Joseph and Aseneth 261 Magic, Comic Reversal and Healing 283 Shamans and Charlatans: Magic, Mixups, Literary Memory in Apuleius’ Golden Ass Book 3 285 Lucius’s Rose: Symbolic or Sympathetic Cure? 298 General Index 305 Index locorum 317 About the Authors 325 Despite the recent and intensified scholarly interest in the field of myth and ritual, inquiry into major shifts in mythical and ritual poetics is still in a preliminary stage. The essays in this collection advance our understanding considerably as they probe the intersections of myth and ritual with the plot of the novels. The volume provides a substantial point of departure for subsequent research into freer models of interaction between literature and religion. Biographical note: Marília P. Futre Pinheiro, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Anton Bierl, University of Basel, Switzerland; Roger Beck, University of Toronto, Canada