Dialogpoetik der Quaestiones Convivales von Plutarch

Plutarch's Quaestiones Convivales is a typical example of Imperial Miscellaneous literature. At first glance, his composition may not strive for any recognizable order. However, the analysis of the character design, the time and space components and the paratexts makes it clear that this is indeed a well thought-out literary structure. This has the autofictional character of the character Plutarch as an essential element, so that the conversations are arranged as in a chain of associations that resembles an autobiographical search for memory. By interlinking three different levels of discourse, theoretical knowledge about the Greek symposium is imparted and this knowledge is applied to the staged symposia.