In Search of the Labyrinth: The Cultural Legacy of Minoan Crete

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In Search of the Labyrinth explores the enduring cultural legacy of Minoan Crete by offering an overview of Minoan archaeology and modern responses to it in literature, the visual and performing arts, and other cultural practices. The focus is on the twentieth century, and on responses that involve a clear engagement with the material culture of Minoan Crete, not just with mythological narratives in Classical sources, as illustrated by the works of novelists, poets, avant-garde artists, couturiers, musicians, philosophers, architects, film directors, and even psychoanalysts from Sigmund Freud and Marcel Proust to D.H. Lawrence, Cecil Day-Lewis, Oswald Spengler, Nikos Kazantzakis, Robert Graves, Andr Gide, Mary Renault, Christa Wolf, Don DeLillo, Rhea Galanaki, Lon Bakst, Marc Chagall, Mariano Fortuny, Robert Wise, Martin Heidegger, Karl Lagerfeld, and Harrison Birtwistle, among many others. The volume also explores the fascination with things Minoan in antiquity and in the present millennium: from Minoan-inspired motifs decorating pottery of the Greek Early Iron Age, to uses of the Minoans in twenty-first-century music, poetry, fashion, and other media.

Reviews

Momigliano offers a remarkably detailed and nuanced overview of archaeological research on Crete and the history of the island in general. Such an attentive introduction and contextualisation ensures that readers unfamiliar with the crypto-colonial roots of Minoan archaeology are given a solid foundation. * The Classical Review *
[Momigliano's] choice of responses to the Minoans is based on engagement with the archaeological finds of Minoan Crete. This choice results in a fascinating discussion of novels, poems, paintings, travel texts and films that help us appreciate archaeology in a continuous dialogue with cultural production ... The book would be a welcome addition to a Classics Department library, and it would be valuable reading for undergraduate students in the field of Classics. * Journal of Classics Teaching *
Ground-breaking ... This impressive and wide-ranging book establishes a framework for understanding the sometimes contradictory intellectual and cultural history of Minoan Crete. * International Journal of the Classical Tradition *
Momiglianos book acts as an Ariadnes thread that helps us trace the labyrinthine ways these myths have developed, by placing them in both their archaeological and socio-political contexts. ... In Search of the Labyrinth is a fascinating, wide-ranging, and detailed study of how a civilization was created, adapted, and reconstituted from its inception. * European Journal of Archaeology *
The result of a culmination of years of research, In Search of the Labyrinth is a fascinating and insightful book, accessible and appealing to academic and non-academic readers. M.s engaging writing and the plethora of examples she cites ensure that everyone can find in its pages the Minoans one wishes to find. * Journal of Greek Archaeology *
This is an engaging and insightful exploration of the modern fascination with Bronze Age Crete. A complex and glittering cast of modern Minoans steps forward within a historically situated narrative and under the authors thoughtful gaze. -- Christine Morris, Andrew A. David Associate Professor in Greek Archaeology and History, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Author Bio

Nicoletta Momigliano is Professor of Aegean Studies at the University of Bristol, UK. She specialises in Minoan archaeology and has directed and co-directed several archaeological projects in Crete and Turkey, including excavations at Knossos and Palaikastro, and field surveys in Lycia. Her previous books include Duncan Mackenzie: A Cautious Canny Highlander and the Palace of Minos at Knossos (1999), Archaeology and European Modernity: Producing and Consuming the Minoans (edited with Y. Hamilakis, 2006), Knossos Pottery Handbook: Neolithic and Bronze Age (Minoan) (2007), and Cretomania: Modern Desires for the Minoan Past (edited with A. Farnoux, 2017).