Michael Psellos

Stratis Papaioannou is Associate Professor of Classics at Brown University, Rhode Island. He has published extensively on Byzantine literature, especially on the history of rhetoric and literary subjectivity. He has co-edited Byzantine Religious Culture: Studies in Honor of Alice-Mary Talbot (2011). Recent articles include: Fragile Literature: Byzantine Letter-Collections and the Case of Michael Psellos (2012), 'Michael Psellos on Friendship and Love: Erotic Discourse in Eleventh-Century Constantinople' (in Early Medieval Europe, 2011), 'Byzantine Enargeia and Theories of Representation' (in Byzantinoslavica, 2011) and 'Byzantine Mirrors: Self-Reflection in Medieval Greek Writing' (in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 2010).

• Introduction; Part I. The Professional Rhetor and Theory of Authorship: 1. The philosopher's rhetoric; 2. The rhetor as creator: Psellos on Gregory of Nazianzos; 3. The return of the poet: mimesis and the aesthetics of variation; Part II. Self-Representation: 4. Aesthetic charm and urbane ethos; 5. The statue's smile: discourses of Hellenism; 6. Female voice: gender and emotion; Conclusion: from rhetoric to literature; Appendix: books and readers in the reception of Psellos.

'This work leads to rich revelations about what Psellos was getting at in his writing, but beyond him, it provides us with subtle and convincing explorations of Byzantine culture, particularly the pervasive importance of ancient and biblical models of ideal behavior for the formation of character and the expression of self. Together with Derek Krueger's Liturgical Subjects: Christian Ritual, Biblical Narrative, and the Formation of the Self in Byzantium (2014), Papaioannou's exploration of Psellos's self-presentation lays the groundwork for understanding Byzantine conceptions of self and identity.' Leonora Neville, Speculum