In:The Reality of Women in the Universe of the Ancient Novel
Edited by María Paz López Martínez, Carlos Sánchez-Moreno Ellart and Ana Belén Zaera García
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 40] 2023
► pp. 181–196
Chapter 12Chloe as learning subject in Longus’ Daphnis and
Chloe
Published online: 1 December 2023
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.40.12dow
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.40.12dow
Abstract
Setting the erotic education of Daphnis and Chloe in the
context of contemporary discourses of paideia, this essay
argues that it is Chloe who represents the ideal learning subject. While
Daphnis is associated with the language of teaching and training
(διδάσκω,
παιδεύω), Chloe is associated with the language of
learning and understanding (μανθάνω). When her learning process is
depicted in the novel’s inset scenes of mythological story-telling, Chloe
repeatedly rejects or eludes hierarchical and transactional frameworks of
education, modeling a reflective self-awareness and intellectual agency that
separates her from Daphnis and connects her instead with adult figures like
the Hunter-Narrator and with the novel’s implied reader.
Article outline
- Teaching and training
- Chloe as learner
- Mimesis and the learning subject
- Conclusion
Notes Bibliography
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