Mimet(h)icPaideiain Lucian'sTrue History

Abstract

This contribution interprets Lucian's True History as fictionalization of the concept of paideia, which is eminently important for understanding the Second Sophistic. It claims that the kernel of this concept, the imitation of classic tradition—mimesis—is dealt with in this text metathematically: single figures and motifs are shown to be images of the Lucianic way of imitating the classics, which means to combine items that are not contiguous and prove even reluctant to combination. Being as hybrid as possible, such imitations are not only thought-provoking but they force the reader to decipher them. Other texts, especially the Somnium and the pair of Imagines and Pro Imaginibus, are used as witnesses to a second, ethical facet of Lucianic paideia: the responsibility of the reader for a real understanding of a text that claims to further his education. This is also to be found in the True History, both in the prooemium and in the motif of the Selenites.

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