Mnemosyne, Supplements / Supplements, Late Antique Literature Narrative, Imagination and Concepts of Fiction in Hagiography

This volume explores concepts of fiction, invention, and imagination in late antique hagiographical narrative in diverse cultural and literary traditions. The chapters present innovative explorations of this material by approaching narrative itself as an inherent element of the genre of hagiography that deserves attention in its own right. This volume explores concepts of fiction in late antique hagiographical narrative in different cultural and literary traditions. It includes Greek, Latin, Syriac, Armenian, Persian and Arabic material. Whereas scholarship in these texts has traditionally focussed on historical questions, this book approaches imaginative narrative as an inherent element of the genre of hagiography that deserves to be studied in its own right. The chapters explore narrative complexities related to fiction, such as invention, authentication, intertextuality, imagination and fictionality. Together, they represent an innovative exploration of how these concepts relate to hagiographical discourses of truth and the religious notion of belief, while paying due attention to the various factors and contexts that impact readers’ responses.