Vizi e virtù dello pseudos (sempre secondo Luciano di Samosata)

Abstract

The aim of this analysis is to illustrate the ambiguities of the relationship
between pseudos and aletheia in the works of Lucian of Samosata. A dangerous and
complicated relationship. Of course the pseudos, or the lie (but it also applies to fiction),
has an extraordinary power. As we well know, these are problems and strategies that
already belong to the narration of the Homeric epic. The starting point is the compositional
strategy of a paradigmatic text, Lucian’s True Stories. The investigation develops
through the analysis of Lucian’s Philoseudes (The lover of lies, or the doubter): the satirical 

hero Tychiades is the witness of the pseudea of the philosophers. At the same time with
the pleasure of lying and critical rejection. We try to define the signs that distinguish
the satirical hero: the voice of satire, Tychiades, Parrhesiades, or Lykinos, has the role
of defending aletheia, the truth, in the face of the dangerous power of the pseudos. If the
point of reference, like light emanating from a lighthouse, is aletheia, we can even take
the pleasure and the freedom to experiment all kinds of pseudea. They could become
the archetypes for the future of European literature.