Vision et désir dans les Lettres érotiques de Philostrate : un jeu avec le platonisme

Minas, Julie (2024) Vision et désir dans les Lettres érotiques de Philostrate : un jeu avec le platonisme. ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 64 (3-4). pp. 469-490. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

This article examines the Platonic references present in the corpus of Philostratus' Erotic Letters (F2 manuscripts, edited by Kai Brodersen) with regard to the themes of vision and desire. The aim is to show that Philostratus ironically subverts and turns upside down the Platonic theses on love: he reverses the Platonic axiology by returning to earth and anchoring himself in bodily beauty. But on the other hand, to do this, he draws on elements present in Plato's own text, first and foremost his images, and the way in which Plato himself conceives of the institution of pederasty, so that he takes more from Platonism than might at first appear. This article thus hypothesises that for both Plato and Philostratus, the bodily and human beauty that arouses erotic desire is merely an image, but for Plato, the beauty of bodies is the image of true and ideal beauty, whereas for Philostratus, this image is that produced by the talent of the epistolary writer.

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