Prospectus

Paper Title.  Dionysus: The Architect of Romance

Dionysus is the architect of romance in that he personifies one of the required elements, the remembrance/revelation; as the god of epiphany, Dionysus is known as the 'the god that comes'.  Additionally, Dionysus is present in numerous peripheral aspects of romance securing his place as the divine architect of Romance.  Dionysus is present in both the descent and the ascent themes of romance literature.  Dionysus, the 'twice born' is a male fertility god associated with nature and the seasonal cycle.  He is known to intoxicate and destroy as well as to arrive unexpectedly and possess.  As the god of wine and other intoxicants, such as music and dance, Dionysus is also the god of celebration and ecstasy. He is known as a patron of the arts and the origins of theater are contributed to this multifaceted god of the harvest, wine, ritual madness, and ecstasy.  His role in the peripherals of romance include:  seasonal cycles, violence, Eros, sparagmos, and coupling.  Furthermore, Dionysus is the god of deconstruction and in this course we have been deconstructing romance in search of the elements that make for good story telling.  Dionysus is the 'beast-god within' and is thought to represent the unconscious mind.  His follows have traditionally been on the  margins of society.  Even though classical romance is heavily linked to the aristocracy and the notion that 'blood will tell' without the marginalized followers of Dionysus (women, slaves, foreigners) and their contributions to these stories, the genre would not exist.