Love and Providence

Abstract

The core of this book is an investigation of the treatment of the recognition motif in the Greek novels. It also includes forays into the Roman novels, early Jewish and Christian narratives, and an overview of a sample of early modern European texts, which have been influenced by the ancient novel in their recognition scenes. The ancient novels inherit the recognition motif from epic and drama, and acknowledge their debts by citations or allusions. They also share an ideological mainstay underlying the poetics of recognition in ancient literature: poetic justice, or “goodness wins.” Recognition rewards the deserving couple with the happy ending (this idealistic scenario is not endorsed by the Roman novels). At the same time, the Greek novels also innovate, adding more “natural” ways of recognition (the voice, appearance, the telling of one’s life, instinct, even breathing) to the artificial and conventional ones (tokens or bodily marks) preferred by tradition. This shift of emphasis is related to the idealization of love typical of the genre. Love itself is recognition and should suffice for lovers to recognize each other. Novelists play with this dictate in a variety of ways, romantically endorsing it or challenging it irreverently. Recognitions of family identity likewise negotiate tradition with innovation, bringing the call of blood, or nature’s voice, to bear on the revelation of kinship between family members unknown to each other. The final pages of this book follow the fortunate developments of the motif of blood’s call in later literature.