Authorship and authority in Greek fictional letters

Morrison, A. (2013) Authorship and authority in Greek fictional letters. In: Marmodoro, A. and Hill, J. (eds.) The Author's Voice in Classical and Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 287-312. ISBN 9780199670567 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199670567.003.0011)

Abstract

This chapter examines the ways in which four different pseudonymous letter-collections (those attributed to Plato, Xenophon, Solon, and Euripides) portray themselves as the work of their purported famous authors; how the authority of individual letter- and wider collections depends on the creation of an impression of authorship by a particular historical individual; and the functions to which the authority so created are put. The chapter focusses on how the theme of authenticity is important in these texts, and how they have a complex relationship with mainstream biographical traditions about their purported authors. The picture that emerges points to a sophisticated conception of authorship and provides important evidence for the relationship of the narrating voice of a text and its supposed author in antiquity.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Additional Information: eISBN - 9780191758188
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Morrison, Professor Andrew
• Authors: Morrison, A.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Classics
• Journal Name: The Author's Voice in classical and late antiquity
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISBN: 9780199670567

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