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Document Details : Title: Romance and the Mirror of Princes Subtitle: John Barclay's Argenis (1621) Author(s): GLOMSKI, Jacqueline Journal: Humanistica Lovaniensia Volume: 72 Date: 2023 Pages: 307-321 DOI: 10.2143/HLO.72.0.3292725 Abstract : John Barclay’s masterpiece Argenis (Paris, 1621) has been classified either as a roman-à-clef or as a romance. But these definitions do not grasp the range of political issues and their underlying ideas that Barclay presents and that give his story its fuller meaning. A comprehensive interpretation of Argenis needs to take into account the novel’s particular didactic slant, brought about by Barclay’s contaminatio of the romance traits of Heliodorus’s Aethiopica with the political traits of Xenophon’s Cyropaedia and by the impact of late-humanist political thought. Moreover, Argenis was linked, from its inception, to the ‘mirror of princes’, and an examination of this generic intrusion unravels the complicated plot and clarifies Barclay’s use of his characters, thus providing a sharper understanding of the political-philosophical concepts and the didactic message that shape the structure of Barclay’s story. |
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