Defining Greek Narrative

(Hardback)

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Description

The 'Classic' narratology that has been widely applied to classical texts is aimed at a universal taxonomy for describing narratives. More recently, 'new narratologies' have begun linking the formal characteristics of narrative to their historical and ideological contexts. This volume seeks such a rethinking for Greek literature. It has 2 closely related objectives: to define what is characteristically Greek in Greek narratives of different periods and genres, and to see how narrative techniques and concerns develop over time.
The 15 distinguished contributors explore questions such as: how is Homeric epic like and unlike Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Bible What do Greek historians consistently fail to tell us, having learned from the tradition what to ignore How does lyric modify narrative techniques from other genres
This study will appeal to students and scholars of classics as well comparative literature and literary theory

Reviews

This collection is unparalleled, whether as individual essays or as a whole. We could of course isolate this or that article according to personal interest, but the whole book is an exceptional opportunity to cross narrative Greek literature in all its genres, from Homer to Heliodorus, from epic to lyricism, to tragedy, to historiography and the novel, and to extend it towards the ancient Orient (Bible, Mesopotamia) and even Japan until modern times. The authors' reflections and arguments are of consistently high quality, and the bibliographic arsenal (especially Anglophone) is well supplied. (Translated from French)--Franoise Ltoublon, University Grenoble Alpes (Emerita) "Agora"

Author Bio

Douglas Cairns is Professor of Classics at the University of Edinburgh. Ruth Scodel is D. R. Shackleton Bailey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan.