Dionysian ''imitatio'' is the influential literary method of imitation as formulated by Greek author

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary sty ...

in the first century BCE, which conceived it as the

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

al practice of emulating, adapting, reworking and enriching a source text by an earlier author. It is a departure from the concept of

mimesis Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including ''imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the act ...

which only is concerned with "imitation of nature" instead of the "imitation of other authors."

History

Three centuries after Aristotle's ''Poetics'', from the 4th century BCE to the 1st century BCE, the meaning of ''mimesis'' as a literary method had shifted from "imitation of nature" to "imitation of other authors". No historical record is left to explain the reason of this change.

Dionysius The name Dionysius (; el, Διονύσιος ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; la, Dionysius) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name ...

' three volume work ''On mimesis'' (''On imitation''), which was the most influential for Latin authors, is lost. Most of it contained advice on how to identify the most suitable writers to imitate and the best way to imitate them.Ruthven (1979) pp. 103–4 For Dionysian ''imitatio'', the object of imitation was not a single author but the qualities of many.West (1979) pp.5–8 Latin orators and rhetoricians adopted the literary method of Dionysius' ''imitatio'' and discarded Aristotle's ''mimesis''; the imitation literary approach is closely linked with the widespread observation that "everything has been said already", which was also stated by Egyptian scribes around 2000 BCE. The ideal aim of this approach to literature was not originality, but to surpass the predecessor by improving their writings and set the bar to a higher level. A prominent Latin follower of Dionysius was

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...

, who shared with him the view of ''imitatio'' as the practice that leads to an historical progress of literature over time. Both Dionysius and Quintilian discuss ''imitation'' exclusively from the point of view of rhetoric. In Quintilian, and in classical rhetoric in general, rhetoric drew much attention to the process of imitatio; the

four operations of quadripartita ratio In classical rhetoric, figures of speech are classified as one of the four fundamental rhetorical operations or ''quadripartita ratio'': addition (adiectio), omission (detractio), permutation (immutatio) and transposition (transmutatio). Clas ...

that organize all the figures of speech, defined as a "ready-made framework" of "relatively mechanical procedures" for the emulation, adaptation, reworking and enrichment of a source text by an earlier author.Jansen (2008), quote from the summary: This view of rhetoric was taken by Erasmus in ''

De Copia Rerum ''Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style'' () is a rhetoric textbook written by Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, and first published in 1512. It was a best-seller widely used for teaching how to rewrite pre-existing texts, and how to incorpo ...

''.

Mimesis

Dionysius' concept marked a significant departure from the concept of ''

'' formulated by Aristotle in the 4th century BCE, which was only concerned with "imitation of nature" instead of the "imitation of other authors." Latin orators and rhetoricians adopted the literary method of Dionysius' ''imitatio'' and discarded Aristotle's ''mimesis''. In Aristotle's ''

Poetics Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry. History The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...

'', lyric poetry, epic poetry, drama, dancing, painting are all described as forms of

Notes

References

*Jansen, Jeroen (2008) ''Imitatio''
Summary
translated to English by Kristine Steenbergh. *Ruthven, K. K. (1979
''Critical assumptions''
*West, David Alexander and Woodman, Anthony John and Woodman, Tony (1979
''Creative imitation and Latin literature''
{{Appropriation in the Arts Concepts in aesthetics Literary concepts Greek Muses Poetics Plot (narrative) Narratology Narrative techniques Rhetorical techniques Literary criticism Literary theory Figures of speech