Narrator and narratorial persona in Diodoros' Bibliotheke (and their implications for the tradition of Greek historiography)

Hau, L. I. (2018) Narrator and narratorial persona in Diodoros' Bibliotheke (and their implications for the tradition of Greek historiography). In: Hau, L.I., Meeus, A. and Sheridan, B. (eds.) Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke. Series: Studia Hellenistica (58). Peeters: Leuven, pp. 277-302. ISBN 9789042934986

Abstract

This paper explores the possibility of gaining fresh insight into Diodoros’ Bibliotheke by means of the concepts of narrator and narratorial persona. It falls in three parts. Part 1 offers a formal, narratological analysis of the Diodorean narrator. Part 2 characterises Diodoros’ narratorial persona and argues that it is more fruitful to regard it as a deliberate ‘persona’ claiming authority by placing itself in the historiographical tradition than as the autobiographical voice of the author. Part 3 analyses the narratorial register of four stretches of narrative from the Bibliotheke based on four different sources. It demonstrates that different branches of Greek historiography had traditionally used different modes of narration and argues that Diodoros may consciously have aimed to imitate the narrative mode of his predecessors in each area rather than mechanically taking over the narrative mode of his sources.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Keywords: Diodoros, Greek historiography, hellenistic historiography, narrator, persona.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hau, Dr Lisa Irene
• Authors: Hau, L. I.
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Classics
• Publisher: Peeters
• ISBN: 9789042934986