Open AccessDeconstructing the narrative, constructing a meaning: Why was the Alexiad written?
Author(s) -
Larisa Orlov Vilimonović
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
zbornik radova vizantološkog instituta/zbornik radova vizantološkog instituta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2406-0917
pISSN - 0584-9888
DOI - 10.2298/zrvi1552207v
Subject(s) - historiography , byzantine architecture , narrative , meaning (existential) , literature , key (lock) , criticism , narrative criticism , field (mathematics) , focus (optics) , history , epistemology , art , narrative history , philosophy , computer science , classics , archaeology , physics , computer security , mathematics , pure mathematics , optics
In the present article I offer a narratological approach to Byzantine historiography and an aim to elucidate the key elements of narrative theory that would be useful for investigating medieval Byzantine histories and their complex narrative structures. The focus is put on the key narratological aspects - genre, author, text and the audience - as those elements represent the core of literary criticism and contemporary studies of Byzantine literature. Through useful examples from the Alexiad, I intend to show how this theoretical vehicle functions and I hope to open a new field of scholarly communication on the matter of approach towards Byzantine historiography