Roles in relation: The poetic I in different genres in Pindar
Final Report Abstract
The question of how the speaker in the works of the early Greek lyric poet Pindar can be adequately understood is one of the most controversial topics in research on early Greek poetry. For a long time, Mary Lefkowitz dominated the discussion with her thesis that the first person in the epinicians always refers to the poet, whereas in ‘pure choral song’ it refers to the chorus; more recent researchers have rightly questioned this dichotomy, but a consistent new overall picture seems further away than ever. The completed project and the resulting monograph attempt to revive the deadlocked discussion through a double change of perspective. Firstly, the book moves away from the question of which extra-discursive instances the poetic ‘I’ refers to (‘who is speaking?’), which cannot be answered comprehensively; instead, the focus is directed towards the relational structures created or implied in the text and the question of which roles the poetic ego assumes as a social actor in the various relationships. As a second innovation, the book includes the entire diversity of the Pindaric oeuvre, thus also taking into account the genres transmitted only in fragments. In many cases, correlations between the role construction and the generic framework come to light. In three large sections (‘Connectedness and Demarcation, ‘Mediation’, ‘Interaction’), the book systematically examines various forms of relational role definition in the individual genres and uses in-depth textual analyses to work out the sometimes clear, sometimes subtle connections between role and genre. In this way, the book not only points the way to a new understanding of the versatile poetic ‘I’, but also reassesses Pindar’s multifaceted oeuvre.
Publications
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Rollen in Relation. Das poetische Ich in verschiedenen Gattungen bei Pindar (Zetemata 156)
Thomas Kuhn-Treichel
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Metaleptische Bilder des Erzählens. De Gruyter.
Kuhn-Treichel, Thomas
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Wer erfand die Instrumente und warum ist das wichtig? Musische Erfinder und Erfindungen bei Pindar, in: M. Baumbach (Hg.), Erfinden – Erschaffen – Erdichten. Konzepte und Inszenierungen von ‚Ersten ErfinderInnen‘ in der antiken Literatur und ihrer Rezeption, Darmstadt 2023, 105–129.
Thomas Kuhn-Treichel
