Thesis supervisor:
Researcher Janika Päll, University of Tartu
Opponents:
Professor Dr. Koen De Temmerman
Professor emer. Dr. Maarit Kaimio
Summary:
The thesis studies the style of Achilles Tatius - one of the authors of ancient Greek novels - in his work Leucippe and Clitophon, concentrating on the narrative tempo, different genres and rhetorical figures he uses in his narration. For this purpos the whole novel is divided into sections belonging into seven types of narrative tempo-management on the one hand (regarding the correlation between story time and narrating time in a section), and into 10 genres and 21 sub-genres on the other hand (regarding the form, function and content of a section). Observing the interrelations between these two aspects we can see that certain (sub-) genres are presented in slower and certain (sub-)genres in quicker types of narrative tempo-management, whereas Achilles Tatius prefers to use these (sub-)genres, which are presented in slower types (descriptions, contemplations, various speeches). A similar analysis of the Byzantine novel Hysmine and Hysminias by Eustathius Macrembolites is presented for comparison. The analysis reveals that the narrative tempo in the novel of Eustatius is slightly quicker and he focuses more on presenting the plot. The thesis studies also, in which parts of these novels the narrative tempo is quicker, in which parts slower, and observes, where the alternation of different types of narrative tempo-management and/or (sub-)genres is more frequent (usually when the plot develops quicker or dialogues occur). The last and longest chapter of this thesis analyzes the use of rhetorical figures in separate sections both according to the type of narrative tempo-management and according to the (sub-)genre. For that purpose the first two books are analyzed as a whole, in addition some sections from the middle and end of the novel. The analysis revealed, that the use of rhetorical figures depends primarily on the genre of a section and certain combinations of the genre, narrative tempo-management type and rhetorical figures can be noticed. Certain figures are characteristic to each genre, whereas the choice and frequency of rhetorical figures in sub-genres of one genre usually differ slightly. Regarding the types of narrative tempo-management the largest influence may be noticed in the type of 0-level (where the story-time and narrating time are equal), which is the dominant type in the novel used primarily for presenting the direct speech of characters.