Character development and rite of passage in the greek and byzantine novel

Abstract

Bakhtin considers the Greek novel as a type of Prüfungsroman or novel of ordeal. This ordeal, of course, implies some kind of change in the characters, at least insofar they are conscious of having overcome the ordeal. However, Bakhtin underlines the statism, not the change, of these characters. This contradiction is only apparent. Bakthin reserves the concept of change of character for a very specific kind of evolution, absent in the Greek novel. The characters of that novel, in the interpretation of Bakhtin, go through a more or less stereotyped rite of passage and ordeal, which implies a restricted evolution of character and not a change in the fullest sense of the word. This contribution will also aim to determine to what extent Bakhtin’s considerations are valid for the Byzantine novel (12th c.).