k 2022

Character construction and space in Digenis Akritis

KULHÁNKOVÁ, Markéta

Základní údaje

Originální název

Character construction and space in Digenis Akritis

Autoři

Vydání

6th International Conference on the Ancient Novel, Ghent, 2022

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Prezentace na konferencích

Obor

60206 Specific literatures

Stát vydavatele

Belgie

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Označené pro přenos do RIV

Ne

Organizační jednotka

Filozofická fakulta

Klíčová slova anglicky

Greek narrative; Byzantine poetry; narratology; character; space; characterization; Digenis Akritis

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno
Změněno: 1. 2. 2023 10:01, doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Markéta Kulhánková, Ph.D.

Anotace

V originále

The characters in medieval literature are often rightly labelled as flat and stereotypical. Serving as mere vehicles for the plot, they represent a type “individualized by means of the story, but not by means of personal and non-transferable characteristics” (Schulz, Erzähltheorie, 2012, 12). In other words, the medieval literary character is constructed in and through the story. This undoubtedly stands also for characters in Digenis Akritis. The aim of the proposed contribution is to study the story space as another means of characterization. I briefly analyse several examples from the G version of the poem: Digenis washing himself and changing after his first hunt (4,213–245), the Arabian girl abandoned in the desert (5,30–63), and the first encounter of Digenis and Maximou (6,546–583). I argue that, on one hand, the surroundings within which a character is presented, the way in which this space is represented, and the spatial details brought to the fore mirror his/her inner feelings and character features, as well as actual life circumstances, and thus serve as a means of character construction. This function of the story space explains the great attention paid by the author/redactor of the G version to the representation of space.