Adventures beyond Thule: the Wonders of Antonius Diogenes in antiquity and beyond
21-22 April 2015
Antonius Diogenes, author of The wonders beyond Thule, has been described as the Nabokov of the ancient world. An experimenter in genre, fiction and the paratext, his was a novel of astonishing erudition and complexity, which recorded the adventures of the intrepid Greek explorer Deinias, as he journeyed beyond the frontiers of the frozen north as far as the Moon. The plot, which included the story of the genesis and transmission of the text, also incorporated the adventures of the novel itself – and in a strange case of reality following fiction, the actual fate of Diogenes’ text seems to reflect the novel’s own pseudo-documentary fiction.
This is the first conference dedicated to this extraordinary Greek writer. The conference is proudly hosted by the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies – not far from the Thulean regions of the novel's plot. It brings together an international team of specialists who will explore the fiction, realia, text, language, story, context and Nachleben of The wonders beyond Thule.
Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Aarhus University, Buildings 1630-1632, Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 6B, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. See location on a map.
