Author: Eleazar M. MeletinskyPublisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135599068
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 517
Book Description
First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The Poetics of Myth
Author: Eleazar M. MeletinskyPublisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135599068
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 517
Book Description
First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Greek Mythology and Poetics
Author: Gregory NagyPublisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501732021
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
Gregory Nagy here provides a far-reaching assessment of the relationship between myth and ritual in ancient Greek society. Nagy illuminates in particular the forces of interaction and change that transformed the Indo-European linguistic and cultural heritage into distinctly Greek social institutions between the eighth and the fifth centuries B.C. Included in the volume are thirteen of Nagy's major essays—all extensively revised for book publication—on various aspects of the Hellenization of Indo-European poetics, myth and ritual, and social ideology. The primary aim of this book is to examine the Greek language as a reflection of society, with special attention to its function as a vehicle for transmitting mythology and poetics. Nagy's emphasis on the language of the Greeks, and on its comparison with the testimony of related Indo-European languages such as Latin, Indic, and Hittite, reflects his long-standing interest in Indo-European linguistics. The individual chapters examine the development of Hellenic poetics in the traditions of Homer and Hesiod; the Hellenization of Indo-European myths and rituals, including myths of the afterlife, rituals of fire, and symbols in the Greek lyric; and the Hellenization of Indo-European social ideology, with reference to such cultural institutions as the concept of the city-state. A path-breaking application of the principles of social anthropology, comparative mythology, historical linguistics, and oral poetry theory to the study of classics, Greek Mythology and Poetics will be an invaluable resource for classicists and other scholars of linguistics and literary theory.
Poetika Mifa
Author: Eleazar Moiseevich MeletinskiĭPublisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780815321347
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 494
Book Description
'Serious students will savor Meletinsky's rich and complex book. The opening section alone is valuable for its erudite examination of modern theory about myth, with special attention to Levi-Strauss and the structuralists. Meletinsky grasps the essentials of theories he discusses and makes clear distinctions between them Highly recommended for upper division undergraduates, graduate students and teachers/scholars of myth.' - Choice
Indo-European Poetry and Myth
Author: M. L. WestPublisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191565407
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 540
Book Description
The Indo-Europeans, speakers of the prehistoric parent language from which most European and some Asiatic languages are descended, most probably lived on the Eurasian steppes some five or six thousand years ago. Martin West investigates their traditional mythologies, religions, and poetries, and points to elements of common heritage. In The East Face of Helicon (1997), West showed the extent to which Homeric and other early Greek poetry was influenced by Near Eastern traditions, mainly non-Indo-European. His new book presents a foil to that work by identifying elements of more ancient, Indo-European heritage in the Greek material. Topics covered include the status of poets and poetry in Indo-European societies; metre, style, and diction; gods and other supernatural beings, from Father Sky and Mother Earth to the Sun-god and his beautiful daughter, the Thunder-god and other elemental deities, and earthly orders such as Nymphs and Elves; the forms of hymns, prayers, and incantations; conceptions about the world, its origin, mankind, death, and fate; the ideology of fame and of immortalization through poetry; the typology of the king and the hero; the hero as warrior, and the conventions of battle narrative.
Greek Mythology
Author: Claude CalamePublisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521888581
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289
Book Description
Argues that the meaning of Greek myths can only be studied according to their artistic forms of expression. Using myths such as those of Persephone, Bellerophon, Helen and Teiresias, Claude Calame surveys Greek mythology as a category inseparable from the literature in which so much of it is found.
The Craft of Poetic Speech in Ancient Greece
Author: Claude CalamePublisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801480225
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
In this subtle, learned, and daring book, Claude Calame subverts common assumptions about the relationships between poet and audience, challenging his readers to rethink the very principles of mythmaking in the poetry and art of the ancient Greeks.
Myth and Poetry in Lucretius
Author: Monica R. GalePublisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521451352
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
This book attempts to provide a more positive assessment of Lucretius' aims and methodology by considering the poet's attitude to myth, and the role which it plays in the De Rerum Natura, against the background of earlier and contemporary views.
Homer and the Sacred City
Author: Stephen ScullyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
The importance of the polis in Homeric literature is most evident in the Iliad, a poem concerned in large measure with the holy city of Troy. Stephen Scully here deepens our understanding of both the poetic and the social significance of the city in Homer through a close analysis of the poem's formulaic language. Drawing on scholarship in literary studies, archaeology, and comparative religion, Scully demonstrates that it is the urban setting of the Iliad, as well as the collision of the individual fates of its characters, which generates its most profound tragic themes.
The Singer Resumes the Tale
Author: Albert Bates LordPublisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801431036
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
Edited by Mary Louise Lord after the author's death, The Singer Resumes the Tale focuses on the performance of stories and poems within settings that range from ancient Greek palaces to Latvian villages. Lord expounds and develops his approach to oral literature in this book, responds systematically for the first time to criticisms of oral theory, and extends his methods to the analysis of lyric poems. He also considers the implications of the transitional text - a work made up of both oral and literary components. Elements of the oral tradition - the practice of storytelling in prose or verse, the art of composing and transmitting songs, the content of these texts, the kinds of songs composed, and the poetics of oral literature - are discussed in the light of several traditions, beginning in the ancient world, through the Middle Ages, to the present. Throughout, the central figure is always the singer. Homer, the Beowulf poet, women who perform lyric songs, tellers of folktales, singers of such ballads as "Barbara Allen", bards of the Balkans: all play prominent roles in Lord's book, as they have played central roles in the creation of this fundamental literature.
Singers, Heroes, and Gods in the "Odyssey"
Author: Charles SegalPublisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501718304
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 264
Book Description
One of the special charms of the Odyssey, according to Charles Segal, is the way it transports readers to fascinating places. Yet despite the appeal of its narrative, the Odyssey is fully understood only when its style, design, and mythical patterns are taken into account as well. Bringing a new richness to interpretation of this epic, Segal looks closely at key forms of social and personal organization which Odysseus encounters in his voyages. Segal also considers such topics as the relationship between bard and audience, the implications of the Odyssey's self-consciousness about its own poetics, and Homer's treatment of the nature of poetry.