Lo maravilloso y extraordinario en la novela erótica griega

The ancient Greek novel was not detached from the literary tendencies of its times, such as the Second Sophistic with its constant tendency towards innovation. Sophists often declared the “novelty” of their deeds, as did the novel which, been a fictional narrative, strived for the entertainment of its public looking for the surprising, new and unexpected. Taking a closer look into the novels, we can see that each author tried to excel due to the extraordinary facts included in his work. In my exposition, I will consider the novels of Longus, Xenophon of Ephesus and Charito, that deal with extraordinary facts or situations, trying to attract the attention of their public. By analyzing a specific vocabulary related to the extraordinary (parádoxon), surprising (kainón) or incredible (ápiston), we will find that Charito, who is the author that refers less to extraordinary deeds, qualifies some of them as such.