IRONY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THEOCRITUS’ IDYLLS 24, 18, AND 26

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Degree type
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate group
Classical Studies
Discipline
Arts and Humanities
Arts and Humanities
Linguistics
Subject
Greek literature
Idylls
Irony
Theocritus
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Copyright date
01/01/2024
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Author
Kovalchuk, Maria
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Abstract

This dissertation uses situational irony to interpret problematic passages located in a subset of Theocritus’ mythological poems. (I define “problematic” as having attracted modern scholarly debate that has not been sufficiently resolved.) My examination of Theocritean irony differs from the only existing monograph on the topic (Horstmann 1976) in offering more detailed analyses and in reading passages and poems that this monograph ignores. In a chapter on Idyll 24, I argue that reading the catalogue of Heracles’ education against the hero’s traditional later life highlights an incongruity between Heracles’ training and actual deeds. This comparative reading humorously characterizes young Heracles as toiling in vain. In a chapter on Idyll 18, I argue that reading the description of Helen’s tree cult against Odyssey 4, Euripides’ Helen, Plato’s Phaedrus, and fragments of Stesichorus reveals inconsistencies between the charmingly innocent expectations placed upon Helen’s new marriage and what readers know will eventually happen to it. In a chapter on Idyll 26, I argue that reading the speaker’s moralizing interjection against Euripides’ Bacchae highlights an incongruity between the levels of piety embodied by the speaker of the Idyll and the various characters in the play. This incongruity characterizes the speaker’s piety as uninformed by a critical reading of the Bacchae: the speaker confidently rattles off religious “truisms” without realizing that many of them are challenged in the play. Ultimately, this dissertation, which is situated at the intersection of childhood, cognitive, and religious studies, shows that, although the heroes and heroines in Theocritus are outside of the world of pastoral, they have humorous characteristics, including ignorance and naivete, in common with the shepherds of the more famous bucolic Idylls.

Advisor
Damon, Cynthia
Date of degree
2024
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