In twelfth-century Constantinople, writers worked on commission for the imperial family or aristocratic patrons. Texts were occasioned by specific events, representing both a link between writer and patron and between literary imagination and empirical reality. This is a study of how one such writer, Constantine Manasses, achieved that aim. Manasses depicted and praised the present by drawing from the rich sources of the Graeco-Roman and Biblical tradition, thus earning commissions from wealthy 'friends' during a career that spanned more than three decades. While the occasional literature of writers like Manasses has sometimes been seen as 'empty rhetoric', devoid of literary ambition, this study assumes that writing on command privileges originality and encourages the challenging of conventions. A society like twelfth-century Byzantium, in which occasional writing was central, called for a strong and individual authorial presence, since voice was the primary instrument for a successful career.

The first comprehensive study of occasional writing in Byzantium, focusing on the literary output of Constantine Manasses.

About the Author
Ingela Nilsson is Professor of Greek and Byzantine Studies at Uppsala University and currently Director of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. Her most recent publications include Raconter Byzance: la litterature au XIIe siecle (2014) and Reading the Late Byzantine Romance: A Handbook (Cambridge, 2019). Nilsson is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.

Reviews
'Here is a brilliantly written book that demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of the work of Constantin Manasses, while going off the beaten track to throw a new look at his writing.' Anna Lampadaridi, Review of Byzantine Studies



Book Information
ISBN 9781108824262
Author Ingela Nilsson
Format Paperback
Page Count 231
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 350g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 152mm * 14mm