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Sexuality and Sexual Practices in Greek Fictional Epistolography

Abstract: Greek fictional epistolography as a subgenre represents an ideal corpus for any kind of synoptic and comparative study: all we have left are four late-antique collections of erotic letters (written by Alciphron, Aelian, Philostratus and Aristaenetus) and a Byzantine one (by Theophylact). The conventions of the sub-genre prohibited both obscene language and explicit pornography. However, once they chose erotica as the theme of some of their letters, the authors had to include at least some “spicy” descriptions of sexual contacts. The focus of my research is on the overall representation of lovers’ sexuality in the collections ; the letters of each one will be approached from different aspects and the results will be consequently compared. The areas of my interest are: - male and female means of seduction/ display of sexual interest - male and female initiative concerning the foreplay - descriptions of “side-effects” of physical contact (arousal and erection) and of sexual act itself (sounds, sweat, ejaculation, the (avoidance of) pregnancy, abortion) - variations in marital and extra-marital sexual liaisons ; asexuality and avoidance of marital duties, adultery, threesome, sex in a public place, voyeurism, masochism, fetishism, (a possible case of) oral sex, objectophilia and same-sex relations. The final goal of the paper is to point to (potential) differences in the representation of (both male and female) sexuality in general throughout the literary subgenre from Alciphron to Theophylact and to answer the question which of the authors offers the most detailed and explicit picture of the lovers’ sexual activities (and why). Of course, due to the limited time given for the paper-presentation, only the most interesting and important results of the analyses would be presented, with the emphasis on examples that are a unique feature of one of the authors.

Greek fictional epistolography ; erotica ; sexuality ; sexual practices ; Aristaenetus ; Alciphron ; Philostratus ; Aelian

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