Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional
Reviews"Agapitos captures every sound, rhythm, and movement with attention to the lyricism of the original language... The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne is a literary triumph and a solid step forward in the right direction in Byzantine and world literary studies." Christina Christoforatou, Speculum "Panagiotis Agapitos' translation of the mid-thirteenth-century romance Livistros and Rodamne does justice to one of the great works of Byzantine literature through one of its great scholars. [Agapitos] restores the poetry to the poem, in terms of both its verse layout and the pleasures of its inventive diction and intricate structure." Adam J. Goldwyn, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, '[ The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne ] is a fascinating text that will be of interest to a broad range of scholars including Byzantinists as well as anyone working on cross cultural literary and cultural interactions in the medieval Mediterranean.' Nicholas Morton, The Journal of Religious History, Literature & Culture, 'Le livre constitue par son introduction une contribution capitale àce volume est l'aboutissement d'un long parcours intellectuel, un produit de maturité d'un savant qui est l'un des experts les plus influents dans l'étude de la fiction byzantine.' Charis Messis, Université d'Athènes 'This volume is the culmination of a long intellectual journey, a product of the maturity of a scholar who is one of the most influential experts in the study of Byzantine fiction.' Translated from French., 'Panagiotis Agapitos' translation of the mid-thirteenth-century romance Livistros and Rodamne does justice to one of the great works of Byzantine literature through one of its great scholars. [Agapitos] restores the poetry to the poem, in terms of both its verse layout and the pleasures of its inventive diction and intricate structure.' Adam J. Goldwyn, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 'Agapitos captures every sound, rhythm, and movement with attention to the lyricism of the original language... The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne is a literary triumph and a solid step forward in the right direction in Byzantine and world literary studies.' Christina Christoforatou, Speculum, "Agapitos captures every sound, rhythm, and movement with attention to the lyricism of the original language... The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne is a literary triumph and a solid step forward in the right direction in Byzantine and world literary studies." Christina Christoforatou, Speculum, 'Agapitos captures every sound, rhythm, and movement with attention to the lyricism of the original language ... The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne is a literary triumph and a solid step forward in the right direction in Byzantine and world literary studies.' Christina Christoforatou, Speculum, "Agapitos captures every sound, rhythm, and movement with attention to the lyricism of the original language... The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne is a literary triumph and a solid step forward in the right direction in Byzantine and world literary studies." Christina Christoforatou, Speculum"Panagiotis Agapitos' translation of the mid-thirteenth-century romance Livistros and Rodamne does justice to one of the great works of Byzantine literature through one of its great scholars. [Agapitos] restores the poetry to the poem, in terms of both its verse layout and the pleasures of its inventive diction and intricate structure." Adam J. Goldwyn, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
Table Of ContentPreface Introduction I. General issues 1. The genre of Byzantine romance 2. L&R in older scholarship 3. Textual history and editorial situation 4. Date, place of composition, primary audience II. Literary matters 1. A brief summary of L&R 2. Relation to the Komnenian and Ancient Greek novels 3. Relation to the Old French romances 4. Byzantine occidentalism? Exoticism in L&R 5. The 'awe-inspiring mysteries' of a poet's art 6. Narrative and the organization of time 7. Narrative space and narrated spaces 8. L&R as an instruction manual on the 'art of love' 9. Eros, hybrid power and the politics of desire 10. Poetic language and the blended style in L&R III. The translation The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne Bibliography
SynopsisThe Tale of Livistros and Rodamne is a verse romance about love and adventure written around the middle of the 13th century at the Byzantine imperial court of Nicaea. This edition is the first full scholarly translation into English of one of the most attractive narratives about love in Byzantium., This volume offers the first fully scholarly translation into English of the Tale of Livistros and Rodamne , a love romance written around the middle of 13th century at the imperial court of Nicaea, at the time when Constantinople was still under Latin dominion. With its approximately 4700 verses, Livistros and Rodamne is the longest and the most artfully composed of the eight surviving Byzantine love romances. It was almost certainly written to be recited in front of an aristocratic audience by an educated poet experienced in the Greek tradition of erotic fiction, yet at the same time knowledgeable of the Medieval French and Persian romances of love and adventure. The poet has created a very 'modern' narrative filled with attractive episodes, including the only scene of demonic incantation in Byzantine fiction. The language of the romance is of a high poetic quality, challenging the translator at every step. Finally, Livistros and Rodamne is the only Byzantine romance that consistently constructs the Latin world of chivalry as an exotic setting, a type of occidentalism aiming to tame and to incorporate the Frankish Other in the social norms of the Byzantine Self after the Fall of Constantinople to the Latins in 1204.