Abstract

In this paper it is argued that the description of literary narrative in ancient rhetoric could have provided Greek and Roman novelists with a critical vocabulary, and that this vocabulary is reflected in their works. The major category by and against which novelists define their writing turns out to be μῦθος / fabula, which implies the idea of an unreal and unlikely narrative. An analysis of the most significant passages is followed by the conclusion that the first novels, which were posing as history, avoided looking unreal and unlikely, while later novelists were free to play with the concept of μῦθος / fabula on an individual basis. Given that exactly the Roman novels (and Achilles Tatius) are most defined by μῦθος / fabula, the result also questions our modern critical vocabulary according to which these novels are often called ‘realistic’.