1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910815599303321

Autore

Cullhed Anders

Titolo

The shadow of Creusa : negotiating fictionality in Late Antique Latin literature / / Anders Cullhed ; translated by Michael Knight

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin : , : De Gruyter, , [2015]

©2015

ISBN

3-11-055924-2

3-11-038836-7

3-11-031094-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (725 p.)

Collana

Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, , 1616-0452 ; ; Band 339

Disciplina

400

Soggetti

Fiction - History and criticism

Latin literature - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Preliminary Remarks -- 1. Fictionality: Theoretical Considerations -- 2. Fictionality: Historical Circumstances -- 3. Late Antiquity -- Preliminary Remarks -- 1. At the Window in Ostia -- 2. Recycling the Classics -- 3. The Figures of the Spirit -- 4. In the Heat of the Battle -- 5. “Set me free, O God, from that multitude of speech” -- Preliminary Remarks -- 1. Lactantius: Christian Eloquence -- 2. Servius: The Grammarian’s Gaze -- 3. Macrobius: Narratio fabulosa -- 4. Martianus Capella: A Hopeless Mess -- 5. Fulgentius: Mythographer and Mythoclast -- 6. Boethius: The Maieutics of Consolation -- Preliminary Remarks -- 1. The Foam of Style -- 2. Paulinus and Proba: “A Greater Order” -- 3. Prudentius: Dreams and Demons -- 4. Biblical Epic Poetry: The Orthodoxy of Paraphrase -- Preliminary Remarks -- 1. The Old Dreams -- 2. The New Library -- 3. The Glory of the Mirror -- Appendix: Original Quotations -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Anders Cullhed’s study The Shadow of Creusa explores the early Christian confrontation with pagan culture as a remote anticipation of many later clashes between religious orthodoxy and literary fictionality. After a careful survey of Saint Augustine’s critical attitudes to ancient



myth and poetry, summarized as a long drawn-out farewell, Cullhed examines other Late Antique dismissals as well as appropriations of the classical heritage. Macrobius, Martianus Capella and Boethius figure among the Late Antique intellectuals who attempted to save or even restore the old mythology by means of allegorical representation. On the other hand, pious poets such as Paulinus of Nola and Bible epic writers such as Iuvencus or Avitus of Vienne turned against pagan lies, and the mighty arch-bishop of Milan, Saint Ambrose, played off unconditional Christian truth against the last Roman strongholds of cultural pluralism. Thus, The Shadow of Creusa elucidates a cultural conflict which was to leave traces all through the Middle Ages and reach down to our present day.