Overview

This volume, the first ever of its kind in English, introduces and surveys Greek literature in Byzantium (330 - 1453 CE). In twenty-five chapters composed by leading specialists, The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature surveys the immense body of Greek literature produced from the fourth to the fifteenth century CE and advances a nuanced understanding of what ""literature"" was in Byzantium. This volume is structured in four sections. The first, ""Materials, Norms, Codes,"" presents basic structures for understanding the history of Byzantine literature like language, manuscript book culture, theories of literature, and systems of textual memory. The second, ""Forms,"" deals with the how Byzantine literature works: oral discourse and ""text""; storytelling; rhetoric; re-writing; verse; and song. The third section (""Agents"") focuses on the creators of Byzantine literature, both its producers and its recipients. The final section, entitled ""Translation, Transmission, Edition,"" surveys the three main ways by which we access Byzantine Greek literature today: translations into other Byzantine languages during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts; and modern printed editions. The volume concludes with an essay that offers a view of the recent past--as well as the likely future--of Byzantine literary studies.

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9780197815007

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Reviews

It is difficult to describe this book as anything but exciting and thought-provoking, and it includes much of value for everyone from undergraduates to scholars whose work touches on the late antique and medieval eastern Mediterranean and eastern and central Europe. Papaioannou and his team ought to be commended for such an important contribution. * Lucas McMahon, History, Princeton University, Comitatus * This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Byzantine culture and literature—a concise, witty, and inspiring introduction to major aspects of Medieval Greek literary culture. It provides the first comprehensive treatment of Byzantine literature since the surveys published several decades ago ... Stratis Papaioannou approaches Byzantine literature as a cultural phenomenon from multiple angles, including material, normative, formal, and linguistic perspectives. Methodologically, the volume avoids pursuing a genre-driven or an author-centred approach, though it does address these themes. The result is a rich and exceptional volume, which bears the fruit of an extensive and successful theoretical treatment of Byzantine literature as a whole."" - Krystina Kubina and Nikos Zagklas, Journal of Byzantine Studies (JÖB) Overall, the editor and the contributors succeeded in providing a very clear and rich picture of the Byzantine literary culture. Without doubt, this volume will constitute the standard survey of Byzantine literature for the decades to come. "" - Florin Leonte and Markéta Kulhánková, Byzantinoslavica - Revue internationale des Etudes Byzantines.

""It is difficult to describe this book as anything but exciting and thought-provoking, and it includes much of value for everyone from undergraduates to scholars whose work touches on the late antique and medieval eastern Mediterranean and eastern and central Europe. Papaioannou and his team ought to be commended for such an important contribution."" -- Lucas McMahon, History, Princeton University, Comitatus ""Overall, the editor and the contributors succeeded in providing a very clear and rich picture of the Byzantine literary culture. Without doubt, this volume will constitute the standard survey of Byzantine literature for the decades to come. "" - Florin Leonte and Markéta Kulhánková, Byzantinoslavica - Revue internationale des Etudes Byzantines.

Author Information

Stratis Papaioannou is Director of Research at the Institute of Historical Research of National Hellenic Research Foundation (EIE, Athens), as well as Principal Investigator of the international research project Retracing Connections. His previous publications include Michael Psellos: Rhetoric and Authorship in Byzantium and, as editor and translator, Christian Novels from the Menologion of Symeon Metaphrastes. He has also published Michael Psellus, Epistulae, and Saints at the Limits: Seven Byzantine Popular Legends.

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