Story of Apollonius, King of Tyre, The: Commentary on the Text (Electronic book text)

This commentary is the necessary sequel of G.A.A. Kortekaas' The Story of Apollonius, King of Tyre: A Study of Its Greek Origin and an Edition of the Two Oldest Latin Recensions (Brill, 2004). Whereas the critical edition (2004) could only very briefly touch upon the numerous problems summoned by the text concerning the origin (Latin or rather Greek?), the time and place of creation, the genesis of the text, the interrelationship between the numerous manuscripts, especially between the two main recensions RA and RB, this volume does address in a detailed commentary, word by word and line by line. The author aims to give a definitive answer to the riddles posed by this charming text to every true philologist. The volume discusses, in detail, the story of Apollonius, King of Tyre, which has rightly been called the most popular romance of the Middle Ages. From Iceland to Greece, from Spain to Russia, versions of this novel are recorded. It is the variation among the Latin versions and the numerous vernacular adaptations that make this story especially interesting. Shakespeare used and adapted it in his Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Its plot continues to fascinate us. Incest, deception, pirates, famine, sex and shipwreck form its tasty ingredients. Its links with the Greek novel, which today stands in the centre of scholarly interest, are striking. In this commentary, the author even attempts to show that the novel originated in Greece, or more precisely Asia Minor, possibly in Tarsus. The two recensions (RA and RB) are compared line by line, generally given preference to RA. All these aspects make the present book attractive to scholars of many different disciplines. all of the most recent publications on the subject, which are evidence of the continuing interest in the novel in Antiquity.