From Enargeia to Immersion. The Ancient Roots of a Modern Concept

ABSTRACT: This article argues that the modern notion of immersion, a reader being absorbed in a virtual world to such a degree that she experiences it as if it were the actual world, has a predecessor in the ancient notion of enargeia, “the power of bringing the things that are said before the senses of the audience.” First, it discusses how ancient Greek literary critics theorized about enargeia. Since these critics praise Homer as an author who is particularly capable of achieving enargeia, its second objective is to examine the narrative techniques by which he immerses his audience in his story world.
KEYWORDS: Homer, enargeia, immersion, ancient literary criticism, narratology, linguistics