Ingela Nilsson is Professor of Greek and Byzantine Studies at Uppsala University and currently Director of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. Her most recent publications include Raconter Byzance: la littérature au XIIe siècle (2014) and Reading the Late Byzantine Romance: A Handbook (Cambridge, 2019). Nilsson is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.

'Here is a brilliantly written book that demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of the work of Constantin Manassès, while going off the beaten track to throw a new look at his writing.' Anna Lampadaridi, Review of Byzantine Studies

• 1. The authorial voice of occasional literature; 2. Praising the emperor, visualizing his city; 3. The occasion of death: patronage and the writer on command; 4. In times of trouble: networks and friendships; 5. On an educational note: the writer as grammatikos; 6. Life, love and the past: self-quotation and recycling; 7. Occasional writing as a creative craft.

Ingela Nilsson is Professor of Greek and Byzantine Studies at Uppsala University and currently Director of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. Her most recent publications include Raconter Byzance: la littérature au XIIe siècle (2014) and Reading the Late Byzantine Romance: A Handbook (Cambridge, 2019). Nilsson is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.

'Here is a brilliantly written book that demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of the work of Constantin Manassès, while going off the beaten track to throw a new look at his writing.' Anna Lampadaridi, Review of Byzantine Studies

• 1. The authorial voice of occasional literature; 2. Praising the emperor, visualizing his city; 3. The occasion of death: patronage and the writer on command; 4. In times of trouble: networks and friendships; 5. On an educational note: the writer as grammatikos; 6. Life, love and the past: self-quotation and recycling; 7. Occasional writing as a creative craft.