The historical present tense in Vitsentzos Kornaros' Erotokritos: narratological and philological insight

Abstract

The present article explores the usage of the historical present tense in the narration of the Early Modern Greek romance Erotokritos. Focusing on both the shape and the semantics of present indicatives designating past events in a narrative context, the analysis investigates the phenomenon from the perspective of diegetic and mimetic narrative modes and the respective discourse-pragmatic functions. First, the examination demonstrates the diegetic quality of the historical present tense in summary narratives to foreshadow cognitively salient events in the story and focalize referents important to the plot. Second, it elucidates the tense's mimetic ability in scenic narratives to create a dramatic atmosphere, and third, it illuminates the static dimension of this technique with the tendency to express mental states and psychological expressions of the protagonists. The analysis provides evidence of the use of the historical present tense as a cultivated literary device from both narratological and philological points of view, shedding new light on the diachronic development of this phenomenon.

Keywords

• Early Modern Greek romance
• historical present tense
• diegetic-mimetic narrative mode
• focalization
• orality-literacy continuum