Speech in Ancient Greek Literature is the fifth volume in the Studies in Ancient Greek Narrative (SAGN) series. After surveys of ‘narrators, narratees, and narratives’, ‘time’, ‘space’ and ‘characterization’, the present book undertakes a narratological study of speech in ancient Greek poetic and prose narratives, combining both diachronic and synchronic interests (ix). In the Introduction, speech is defined as ‘every occasion in a narrative where a narrator (normally, but not exclusively, via a verb of speaking) indicates that a character speaks (or writes) any kind of discourse to another character in that narrative (the addressee)’ (2), including soliloquies, monologues and narratorial self-reports.
The volume comprises 31 chapters on an author or, occasionally, a group of texts, ranging from archaic Homer to Nonnus (fifth century CE). The selection of authors mirrors the bulk of narratological research done on ancient literature (led by eight chapters on epic or cognate texts, eight on historiography and five on the novel). With SAGN 5, chapters on Quintus of Smyrna, Nonnus and the Gospels have been added, while several other authors such as Aristophanes and Lucian are omitted.
A clear and rather technical introduction by the editors establishes a terminology that is consistently used in all contributions. Important analytical categories, explicated in the introduction and discussed throughout the volume, are variety, distribution and variation of speech modes, types of speech, speech-in-speech, imaginary speeches, attributive discourse, phatic communication and occurrences of silence. Contributions also discuss the effects of speech upon, for example, plot development, characterization, focalization, structuring and pacing of narratives. A brief epilogue provides a synthesis of the contributions’ findings, followed by a helpful glossary and thematic index.
All contributors, experts in their respective fields, offer comprehensive approaches to each particular author or group of texts. Individual contributions, however, cater to different readerly needs; some offer a technical overview that follows the Introduction’s layout (for example, Luuk Huitink and Tim Rood on the historian Xenophon, Aldo Tagliabue on Xenophon of Ephesus), while others focus their argument on the particularities of the texts at hand (Kathryn Morgan traces Plato’s preoccupations with speech, J.R. Morgan writes a chronological quasi-commentary on speech in Longus).
Many chapters offer engaging close readings of the uses of speech in specific passages; two illuminating examples, putting narratological tools to convincing interpretative use, are Jan Willem van Henten and Huitink’s analysis of the Jotapata episode in Josephus (360–63) and J.R. Morgan’s discussion of the Aethiopica’s ending (721–24) with attention to its narrative effects on readers.
Often, discussions that challenge theoretical boundaries prove to be most interesting: Silvio Bär’s chapter on Quintus of Smyrna’s (non-)‘Homericity’ demonstrates the potential of further research on the intersections between intertextuality and narratology, asking how certain usages of speech are strategic means of navigating a text’s relation to its predecessors or generic frameworks; Tagliabue’s reflections on the paraliterary character of the Ephesiaca run along similar lines.
Hence, the volume not only offers detailed and helpful analyses of the uses of speech in the works of individual authors, but also touches upon broader theoretical questions in narratology that merit closer scrutiny and invite future exploration. Regarding the diachronic goals of the book, Bruno Currie’s explicit focus on the relation between choral odes (Pindar and Bacchylides) and Homeric and Stesichorean epic stands out. Comparisons within corpora, from Berenice Verhelst’s reflections on Nonnus’ Dionysiaca vs Paraphrase to Michal Beth Dinkler’s work on the Gospels, are equally instructive. Beyond that, cross-references to other authors are mostly brief, indicating where a specific use of speech can (or cannot) be found. Thus, tracing diachronic developments between chapters, as the preface suggests (ix), requires a very active reader and works best within genre-sections where contributions engage more extensively with each other. The addition of further contributions from the rich field of Christian, Jewish and late antique literature (especially those less studied in narratology) could stimulate new work along these lines.
Irene de Jong’s discussion of pragmatic approaches in her chapter on Homer shows the potential of combining and transgressing theoretical frameworks. Likewise, some notes on gendered speech (in Plato, the Gospels and the novels, especially Koen De Temmerman on Chariton and J.R. Morgan on Longus) or on the performative dimensions of narratological speech analysis (Evert van Emde Boas on the tragedians; Huitink and Mathieu de Bakker on the early and later orators, respectively) point to a productive openness for theoretical intersections which should be exploited more explicitly.
Lastly, several contributors discuss rare (sometimes arguable) instances of free indirect discourse in ancient literature or the syntactical phenomenon of downshift (cf. index), often resulting in a metaleptic blurring of voices. These reflections touch upon an issue first raised by the Introduction (10): such discussions of free indirect discourse or downshift mark moments in narrative when speech as a narratological category becomes elusive and the tripartite division of speech modes (direct discourse, indirect discourse and reported speech acts) reaches its limits. In these and similar contexts, engagement with perspectives from cognitive narratology (addressing the fuzzy borders of speech and consciousness) would enrich this volume’s original analysis of speech modes.
Overall, SAGN 5 has successfully reacted to earlier criticism of the series by further broadening its scope. With its mostly traditional narratological perspective, this book offers a disciplinary starting point for students and scholars interested in a particular author or text, as well as a useful springboard for experts in the field to dive deeper, conceptually and diachronically, into the study of Greek narrative.
