Epic Fear. Affect and Emotion in the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Rebekka Schirner
• Subject Area: Greek and Latin Philology
• Term: from 2017 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 347224055

In the course of the so-called emotional turn of the last decades, emotional questions have attracted the interest of scholars in the fields of cultural and literary studies in general as well as of classical studies in particular. These disciplines are now engaged with questions regarding the historicity or variability of emotions or their importance for different literary genres. They also analyze the methods used by authors to portray emotions within their works. The emotion of fear does not only influence decisions and actions of human beings in the real world but is also important in fictional literature. A work of ancient literature that is particularly suitable for a study of emotions, especially of fear, is the epic poem Argonautica by Valerius Flaccus. In this work, Valerius narrates the first expedition by ship while continuously alluding and referring to the texts of his epic predecessors.In my Habilitationsprojekt, I examine the role of fear for the characterization of the epic characters, the progression of the epic plot and the poetic technique in general, in order to provide a new and different insight into the Argonautica. The starting point of my study is the presentation of a typology of fear which displays the different types of fear that are important in the Argonautica and their attribution to different characters, genders, peoples and situations (in contrast to other emotions). In addition to that, the different ways in which fear is portrayed with literary means will be examined, which includes analyses of the different words used for the various types of fear and of the specific modes of narration. The relevance of fear for the structure and composition of the work will be examined as well. The use of fear as literary device is also palpable in the way Valerius deals with the texts of his literary predecessors. It often can be seen that Valerius depicts emotions more explicitly or even contrarily to his intertexts. Finally, I will have to pursue the question if Valerius expected specific reactions from his audience and if some kind of epoch emotion becomes manifest in this context.This project, thus, does not only intend to illustrate the relevance of the emotion of fear for an important ancient epic, but also to contribute to an understanding of the ancient concept of fear from a historical point of view.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Professorin Dr. Gesine Manuwald