Daphnis and Chloe [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION The Author's Intention Many people have heard of Daphnis and Chloe and know that it is a tale about a pair of lovers in a pastoral setting, but few could name its author or recount the story or say what there is about it that has made it a classic. The extraordinary potency of the theme as an inspirer of works in other media has led to a situation where the reinterpretations—Ravel's orchestral suites, for example, or the lithographs of Chagall—are better known than the original. Yet, for readers today, Daphnis and Chloe is one of the most accessible and easily appreciated of Greek books. In its essence, the story is timeless and universal. Daphnis and Chloe, a youth and a girl, are of an age to begin sexual intercourse. They are strongly attracted to one another, and have ample opportunity. But they have never heard of love, and do not know how to accomplish the physical act. They need to be taught, and this teaching is given in delicately humorous passages which, though perfectly explicit, are free from any taint of lubricity. To impart this instruction was one of the author's purposes in writing the book—he says so in his Preface, and there is no reason why we should not take his words at face-value. A second purpose was to 'heal the sick and cheer the desponding'; these words, too, probably mean exactly what they say, because it is known that the Greeks gave thought to how literature might be made a cure for impotence and depression. The curative properties of Daphnis and Chloe are its sentimental theme, the sweetness of its narrative-tone, and the optimistic view that it takes of the relationship between man and his environment, both natural and supernatural. There is, moreover, an aspect of Daphnis and Chloe which appeals particularly to modern taste. In the society that it describes, nobody is an outcast. A courtesan and a homosexual are used by Divine Providence as instruments for good, the old as