Pseudo-intellectualism and Melancholy. The Poetics of Black Bile in Lucian's Lexiphanes
Fuente:
Redalyc
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Universidad de Sevilla
2019
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1876473214630100992 |
|---|---|
| author | George Kazantzidis |
| author_facet | George Kazantzidis |
| contents | Pseudo-intellectualism and Melancholy. The Poetics of Black Bile in Lucian's Lexiphanes George Kazantzidis Historia hyper pseudo Atticism obscurity Melancholia In Lucian’s highly competitive and exhibitionist world, hyper-Atticism, the (ab)use of recondite, archaic words for the sake of impression, has become a sort of plague. In this article, I discuss how Lexiphanes focuses precisely on the literal and metaphorical associations of hyper-Atticism as a disease, by paying particular attention on the medical verdict - articulated in the text by Lucian’s authorial double, Lycinus - that the dialogue’s eponymous character suffers from melancholia. Rather than constitute a passing reference to the colloquial vocabulary of insanity, melancholia, I argue, helps Lucian forcefully assimilate the accumulation of pretentious words to the raving of the insane, a non-sensical blabbering that is void of meaning. At the same time, Lucian aims also to expose the presence of melancholy in the cultural and medical idiom of his time as a disease that typically affects ‘great spirits’, people of exceptional intelligence. By calling Lexiphanes ‘melancholic’, Lucian scolds Lexiphanes’ pretentiousness both as a hyper-Atticist and, no less importantly, as a pseudo-intellectual who is shaping his public image, temperamentally and physiognomically, as a genius whose atrabilious constitution entitles him to act and speak in strange ways. 2019 artículo científico 1575-6823 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=28265032014 https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/ https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/html/ https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/28265032014.epub https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/movil en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=282 Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades application/pdf Universidad de Sevilla Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades (España) Num.41 Vol.21 |
| format | Artículo científico |
| id | redalyc_28265032014 |
| institution | Redalyc |
| language | en |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Universidad de Sevilla |
| spellingShingle | Pseudo-intellectualism and Melancholy. The Poetics of Black Bile in Lucian's Lexiphanes George Kazantzidis Historia hyper pseudo Atticism obscurity Melancholia Pseudo-intellectualism and Melancholy. The Poetics of Black Bile in Lucian's Lexiphanes George Kazantzidis Historia hyper pseudo Atticism obscurity Melancholia In Lucian’s highly competitive and exhibitionist world, hyper-Atticism, the (ab)use of recondite, archaic words for the sake of impression, has become a sort of plague. In this article, I discuss how Lexiphanes focuses precisely on the literal and metaphorical associations of hyper-Atticism as a disease, by paying particular attention on the medical verdict - articulated in the text by Lucian’s authorial double, Lycinus - that the dialogue’s eponymous character suffers from melancholia. Rather than constitute a passing reference to the colloquial vocabulary of insanity, melancholia, I argue, helps Lucian forcefully assimilate the accumulation of pretentious words to the raving of the insane, a non-sensical blabbering that is void of meaning. At the same time, Lucian aims also to expose the presence of melancholy in the cultural and medical idiom of his time as a disease that typically affects ‘great spirits’, people of exceptional intelligence. By calling Lexiphanes ‘melancholic’, Lucian scolds Lexiphanes’ pretentiousness both as a hyper-Atticist and, no less importantly, as a pseudo-intellectual who is shaping his public image, temperamentally and physiognomically, as a genius whose atrabilious constitution entitles him to act and speak in strange ways. 2019 artículo científico 1575-6823 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=28265032014 https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/ https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/html/ https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/28265032014.epub https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/movil en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=282 Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades application/pdf Universidad de Sevilla Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades (España) Num.41 Vol.21 |
| title | Pseudo-intellectualism and Melancholy. The Poetics of Black Bile in Lucian's Lexiphanes |
| topic | Historia hyper pseudo Atticism obscurity Melancholia |
| url | https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=28265032014 https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/ https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/html/ https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/28265032014.epub https://www.redalyc.org/journal/282/28265032014/movil |