Temporality and Simulacrum of the Medieval Past in the Literary Present of Postmodernity: the Reformulation of the Story of Apollonius of Tyre in Mark Haddon’s The Porpoise

Abstract

The main outcome of this paper is to analyze how the medieval past is recovered postmodernity, through the reformulation of the story of Apollonius of Tyre in Mark Haddon’s recent novel The Porpoise. The research focuses on what the novel highlights from the medieval account of the hero’s adventures: the incest between King Antiochus and his daughter, an abused young woman who takes center stage in the present narrative, along with other female victims of oppression in the story. In context of recent debates about the recovery of medieval past, the article focuses on the rewriting of Apollonius’ story and the literary techniques used to update it. The aim is to contribute to make visible current issues such as gender violence, which The Porpoise develops through the simulacrum of history and the spatialization of time as privileged resources.